What does the soul of an airplane look like?

That the soul of the Mriya will go straight to heaven, I have no doubt. Maybe it will look like the friendly dragon from one of Edith Nesbit’s stories.

For me, hearing that the Mriya perished was like hearing that someone dear to me had died. I grew up on stories about the construction of the Mriya like fairytales. My dad was just an ordinary worker at the Antonov plant for nearly 40 years. But his contribution was that the Mriya flew. My father died in 2013.

Yet the Mriya kept flying. It actually saved the world at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s as if they killed a big, loyal, kind dog…

Otherwise, it’s quiet here for now. Thank God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I can’t sleep, though. My heart is in Kyiv. When I nod off, the war suddenly seems unreal. Just a remake of «Lord of the Rings.» The kingdom of Gondor must withstand. Of course. It must. But the darkness is suffocating…

Zoya, Vinnytsia Oblast, born in Kyiv