Business Insider
By Sarah Gray and Erin Snodgrass
September 7, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posed for a photo with the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov in front of a Mi-8 helicopter.
The helicopter in question appears to be the one flown by a Russian pilot into Ukraine in a daring defection carried out on August 9, 2023.
News that a Russian pilot defected to Ukraine in the same type of helicopter emerged in August, and additional details about the secret plot were revealed in a dramatic video released by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence in early September.