Kazakhstan is actively working to update its military aircraft fleet, abandoning outdated Soviet combat aircraft in favor of more modern models such as the Russian-made Su-30SM multi-role fighter. As part of this process, the Kazakh government announced an auction for 117 Soviet-era fighters and bombers, including the MiG-31, MiG-27, MiG-29 and Su-24, produced in the 1970s and 1980s. The total cost of the lot is estimated at 1 billion tenge (approximately 1,5 million US dollars).

The aircraft were deemed unfit for use and their modernization was considered uneconomical. However, as the Kyiv Post notes, the United States acquired 81 of these aircraft through offshore structures. It is assumed that since the types of these aircraft are in Ukrainian service, they will eventually be transferred to Kyiv either for use as spare parts or as dummies on airfields.

Previously in Kazakhstan сообщили that information about the sale of decommissioned military aircraft to Ukraine is not true, however, the emergence of new details raises a number of doubts about the reliability of such denials.