I'm not going to discuss all of your wrong assumptions, just mentioning "closing media". Do you know the narrative those media were spreading? Do you know who is Medvedchuk? These media were pro-russia propagandists.
> am I wrong in the assessment of the economical situation and population decline in Ukraine
Yes you are. You showed (without evidence but let's assume) that $40bn of agricultural exports don't cover the $60 of Ukraine imports. Only 15% of people there work in agriculture. The other 85% of workers are just as capable of creating value for export.
> Am I wrong that all the industry in Ukraine was destroyed
Yes, and it is so obvious a lie that it strains credulity. Even just ignoring the well known mining/iron ore/iron/steel/pipe industry that has at least a dozen well known big companies. Plus of course Ukraine manufactures a lot of other things from cars to armament to confectionary.
And if it came to an export/currency collapse people would and could adapt and buy the local food/cars/trucks (even if they don't have the same quality or variety as foreign goods).
Many of my friends who are from Ukraine actually prefer to work in St. Petersburg and Moscow due to better opportunities and higher pay. Granted, compared to the US Russia's economy is horrendous, but the opportunities are still greater than what is available in Ukraine, at least as perceived by 20-something aged Ukrainians.
The reasons it's not going to bankrupt, as well as will not develop any AN-225v2 are: Antonov is not a private company. As a part of Ministry of Defense, it may let itself to be unprofitable and not competitive, cause the losses would be covered by budget.
And yes, it is not considered a desirable workplace among locals due to rather low salaries and predominantly well-aged equipment.
Moreover, Antonov suffered from breaking it's supply chain in 2014.
Apart from that, everything's absolutely great!
Obviously, it is not the Golden Age of Antonov's assembly, nor it's development, nor anything else, but it happened so I live 1 block away from Antonov design bureau and every morning I see quite impressive flow of employees heading in there. I mean, of course, except the shutdown period and it's just my personal 'seems quite impressive'.
PS English is not my native, so it may be clunky or poorly readable)
How is Ukraine doing with its tech and military industry? Are they keeping up with the times or slow fading away? I don't see them doing much active development, amd I wrong?
I knew it carried its whole crew with it, but the cabins are almost a little hotel, two kitchens! Three sleeping quarters! And that's all just tucked into the parts that aren't used for cargo.
I got a few good chuckles out of the back-and-forth, just from the subtitle, I'm sure it's even better if you speak Russian. Well worth a watch, thank you for posting it!
There was a piece, where the pilot explained why airports are not in favor of accepting AN225 for landing and takeoff on theirs runways:
they have to check the runway surface after landing/takeoff.
but even more crucial (not now, but in those times) is that suitable for landing airports are in most cases are those with high throughput of aircrafts and tight schedule and according to the international safety regulations it is possible give permittion for the next takeoff only after 7-10 min due to turbulent wake(is it the right term?). while common passenger flights have an interval of 30 sec
