On Saturday, 17 October 2026, the Media Center Directorate team brought employees of diplomatic missions on an exciting visit to the unique aviation technology hub in the heart of Kyiv. The group of visitors included Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Egypt in Ukraine Ahmed Elhamshary, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, and employees of the Embassies of Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Advisory Mission of the European Union and UNICEF Ukraine.
The training hangar of the National University ‘Kyiv Aviation Institute’ is a 7,200-square-metre facility that also serves as a training laboratory, exhibition area, and site for filming and advertising projects. Its primary purpose is to train up-and-coming aviation experts and popularize engineering knowledge.
During a tour, the foreign guests learned about the history of Ukrainian aviation and viewed rare aircraft. Notably, the diplomats witnessed the world’s sole surviving Ant-7 (R-6), the first prototype Yak-42 with a swept-wing design, the first production An-24, the most powerful NK-12VM turboprop aircraft engine, a test bench for the Tu-144 flight control system, components of the S-300 air defence missile system, and more
During the event, the guests also learned about the main stages of the birth and development of Ukrainian aviation. The chronology began with the 1917–1921 independence struggle. It was then that the first aviation units emerged in Ukrainian armies, while in March 1918, one of the world’s first regular international mail routes linked Vienna and Kyiv. The recount of the Soviet period covered the construction bureau of Oleg Antonov, civilian planes from the construction bureau of Andrei Tupolev, as well as the technical differences between different schools of helicopter construction: the classic single-rotor design of the Mil construction bureau and the coaxial system by the Kamov construction bureau.
Guided by an experienced specialist, the diplomats joined a masterclass on creating the model of the Ukrainian transport aircraft An-225 ‘Mriya’. At the end of the workshop, the guests launched the model they had built into the air.
The aviation museum’s collection continually expands, spanning historical exhibits and modern models, including UAVs and missile technology. This allows tracing the evolution of the aviation field: from the very first aeroplanes to the technology that defines its future.
The visit offered members of the diplomatic corps an opportunity to learn more about Ukrainian aviation legacy, its engineering projects, and education initiatives in aircraft manufacturing.
