Last week, The Times of London reported that it had finally identified the legendary Ghost of Kyiv.
As the legend had it, the Ghost was responsible for shooting down roughly 40 Russian aircraft before losing a battle of his own against overwhelming numbers.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command, however, has come forward to say that it is all a bunch of nonsense.
All of Ukraine
When the Ghost was first announced, many speculated this was a legend being created to rally the people of Ukraine around its war effort.
However, when The Times of London reported, the story, it revealed a specific fighter pilot as the Ghost.
Over the weekend, the Ukrainian government decided to clear this up.
Its Air Force Command wrote, “The ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend, whose character was created by Ukrainians!”
It continued, “Hero of Ukraine Stepan Tarabalka is NOT ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ and he did NOT shoot down 40 planes.”
The command stated that the legend was created to represent all Ukrainian fighter pilots, not just one.
The information about the death of the The Ghost of #Kyiv is incorrect. The #GhostOfKyiv is alive, it embodies the collective spirit of the highly qualified pilots of the Tactical Aviation Brigade who are successfully defending #Kyiv and the region.
— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) May 1, 2022
The government is just as much at fault as anyone for creating this legend, however.
Back in February, the government sent out a tweet stating, “People call him the Ghost of Kyiv. And rightly so,” adding that he had become a “nightmare” for Russian fighter pilots.
Source: New York Post
