Videos claiming that the Ukrainian pilot – who went by the name “The Ghost from Kyiv” – had single-handedly shot down several Russian fighter jets began to spread on the first day of the Russian invasion.
It was claimed that the folk hero had shot down as many as 40 Russian planes, which was seen as a huge achievement since Russia has significantly larger military muscles and controls large parts of Ukrainian airspace.
It has long been speculated who the so-called ghost pilot is.
“The Ghost from Kyiv” is hailed as a folk hero
Now, however, the Ukrainian Air Force warns in a Facebook message that “The Ghost from Kyiv” is just a “superhero legend” that has been created by the people.
“We urge the Ukrainian people not to neglect the basic rules of information,” the statement said, further urging people to “check the sources of information before disseminating them.”
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Not a single pilot
The Times of London wrote on Saturday that they had received confirmation that “The Ghost from Kyiv” was the 29-year-old Major Stepan Tarabalka.
Ukrainian authorities later confirmed that the 29-year-old was killed in action on March 13 and that he was honored as “the hero of Ukraine” after his death.
However, they reject the claim that is Tarabalka is “The Ghost from Kyiv”, and denies that he did not shoot down 40 planes.
They warn against attributing the superhero stamp to a single pilot, describing “The Ghost from Kyiv” as a collective image of pilots from the Air Force’s 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, which “defends the sky over the capital”, rather than a single man’s effort.
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Out of context
For several weeks, the legend of “The Ghost from Kyiv” has spread on social media among Ukrainians.
The former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, is among those who shared a picture of what was believed to be the heroic pilot. Also the official twitter account of Ukrainian authorities made one video that praised “The Ghost of Kyiv”.
In the photo – the MiG-29 pilot. The same “Ghost of Kiev”.
It causes terror in enemies and pride in Ukrainians 🇺🇦
He has 6 victories over Russian pilots!
With such powerful defenders, Ukraine will definitely win! pic.twitter.com/GJLpcJ31Si
– Petro Poroshenko (@poroshenko) February 25, 2022
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Faktisk.no has fact-checked the photo documentation that has emerged about the pilot. The photo Poroshenko shared, which will show who the pilot is, does not stem from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The picture is from 2019, and was then shared on the Ukrainian Defense’s official twitter account in connection with a pilot testing a new French helmet system.
A video that was supposed to show the ghost pilot shooting down Russian planes was in fact taken from a computer game. Pictures that were to show the pilot were either taken out of context or manipulated, according to Faktisk.no.
FALSE: The video shows a fighter jet being shot down by another fighter jet. But according to the gaming website Game Rant, these images come from a gaming simulator. Photo: Screenshot
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– Important for the people
Ukrainian military expert Mikhail Zhirohov says BBC that he believes the story of “The Ghost from Kyiv” is part of a propaganda campaign to raise morale among Ukrainians. He thinks hardly one pilot could have shot down as many as 40 planes alone.
He believes that this type of propaganda is very important for the Ukrainian people
– Our armed forces are smaller, and many think we can not be equal to them (the Russians ed. Journ.) We need this in wartime, he says to the channel.
The images that shook the world
The Ukrainian authorities themselves helped to perpetuate the legend of the “Ghost of Kyiv”, just days into the war.
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) showed a fighter pilot on the messaging service Telegram, with a caption “The ghost from Kyiv” was an “angel” who had crashed 10 Russian planes. But the “angel” was not named, and several media outlets could later prove that the image used was an old image, according to the BBC.
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