Ukrainian Air Assault Forces
The Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, known until 2017 as the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces are the airborne forces of Ukraine. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, several Ukraine-based units from the Soviet Airborne Forces were absorbed into the newly-created Ukrainian Ground Forces, where they remained until 2016, when they separated to become one of five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Air Assault Forces are in constant combat readiness. They are the high-mobility branch of the military, responsible for air assaults and military parachuting operations. Before the Russo-Ukrainian War they were also the main forces sent by Ukraine to peacekeeping missions around the world. They are considered the elite of Ukraine's armed forces.
A VDV soldier in 2011
Air Assault soldiers in 2018.
A BTR-4
A AT-105 Saxon
The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed before the Second World War, the force undertook two significant airborne operations and a number of smaller jumps during the war and for many years after 1945 was the largest airborne force in the world. The force was split after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with the core becoming the Russian Airborne Forces, losing divisions to Belarus and Ukraine.
Shoulder patch of the Soviet Airborne Forces, 1969–1991
A group of parachutists Ya.D. Moshkovsky (far left) before the landing on August 2, 1930
Soviet paratroopers deploy from a Tupolev TB-3 in 1930
Kiev maneuvers in 1935. Collecting paratroopers after landing