One thing no-one seem to be considering is airwing.
The Kiev’s were designed for STOVL jets even though the USSR didn’t have a very capable design available.
J15s would be way too big for the Kiev’s, you will probably struggle to fit even a dozen onboard. Are the hanger and elevators even able to handle aircraft that big?
Also, the Kiev’s are now literally rust buckets. The hull degradation is probably far too advanced to be able to easily fix, so even if you do refurbish them, you won’t get many years service lives out of them.
Far far better to build new, although I am not sure just how useful 40kt pocket carriers would be in this day and age. Such ships would not have able to carry enough aircraft to hold their own against land based opposition or any of the other carriers currently in operation.
If Iran or Pakistan bought such ships, they would honestly be more liability than asset, since their principle opponents would be able to easily launch attacks far more powerful than such ships could reasonably be expected to defend against. The cost of such ships and their escorts would pretty much be the entire naval budge of both navies, so loose those ships will pretty much mean their entire navies are wiped out in one go.
It would be far more cost effective for both to invest that money in SSKs instead.