Before the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021, many military units fled to other countries on helicopters, so several medium-sized Mi-17 military helicopters (and several American Black Hawks) multipurpose aircraft were rescued from Afghanistan.
Back in February 2022, just before the start of the Russian invasion, the United States decided to give Ukraine the Mi-17s (interestingly not the Black Hawks) that their operators had rescued from the Taliban. The first helicopters arrived in Ukraine sometime in late summer, early fall.
Until now, you can see relatively few recordings of the former Afghan Mi-17 of the Ukrainians, but recently, thanks to a Ukrainian pilot, such a video has been uploaded to social media. The video clearly shows that the helicopter is still using the Afghan National Army’s camouflage pattern, and only the Afghan insignia is painted over the symbol of the Ukrainian Air Force.
The United States purchased some Mi-17s given to the Afghans from Russia that year.
Unloading of the Afghan Mi-17 donated to the United States for the Ukrainian Air Force pic.twitter.com/pKXfMeOysp
– Ukrainian (front) January 2, 2023
Cover photo: Afghan Mi-17 in Afghanistan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
