The Security Service of Ukraine reports the arrest of former Antonov general director Serhiy Bychkov and head of the aviation security unit Oleksandr Netesov in the Mriya destruction case, while former deputy general director Mikhail Kharchenko has been put on the wanted list.
In a telegraph channel on Friday, the Ukrainian security service said it had gathered a solid evidence base on the former Antonov general director, his deputy and the head of the aviation security unit.
“According to the materials of the investigation, on the eve of a full-scale invasion, the officials did not allow members of the National Guard of Ukraine to enter the territory of the Gostomel airport to prepare for its protection. Such criminal actions led to the temporary seizure of a strategically important airfield, surrounding settlements and the destruction of the AN-225 Mriya aircraft,” the report stresses.
The SBU claims that during January-February 2022, officials explicitly prohibited the Ukrainian military to erect defensive fortifications and fortifications at the airfield, for this purpose an order was given to block the access of the National Guard fighters to the territory of the facility.
Based on the collected evidence, investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate of the SBU reported all three defendants on suspicion under Part 2 of Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of the legitimate activities of the AFU and other military formations in a special period, resulting in the death of people and other grave consequences).
“Two persons involved in the proceedings were selected a measure of restraint in the form of detention. Comprehensive measures are taken to bring to justice the former deputy director general of the SE “Antonov”, who is now hiding from justice. He is wanted,” the SBU informs.
“We are conducting an objective investigation of this case. Those who actually helped the enemy to destroy one of the symbols of Ukraine should suffer the deserved punishment. And the SBU will do everything necessary for this. And our state will definitely build a new plane, because the Mriya, just like Ukraine, cannot be destroyed,” the head of SBU Vasyl Malyuk said in the message of the special service.
As a law enforcement source clarified to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kharchenko, a wanted former deputy director of Antonov, is probably now in Crimea.
