War in Ukraine: who is the “ghost of Kyiv”?

At the controls of sound Mig-29, he reportedly shot down six Russian planes in the first 30 hours of the Russian invasion on February 24. A few days later, he would have achieved 10 other victorious fights, to end up with more than 40 enemy aircraft destroyed in recent weeks. This Ukrainian ace of aces, baptized the ghost of Kyiv, was reportedly shot down on March 13 during a final dogfight. Since the beginning of the conflict, the social networks recount the exploits of this legendary pilot. A very viral video, showing a fighter plane destroying in close combat – at ground level – an enemy aircraft, was even published on the Twitter account of the Ukrainian Ministry of the Armed Forces.

An improbable fight, whose very realistic video is actually from the video game Digital combat simulator World (DCS World). Similarly, in the cockpit of a fighter plane, a photo of a helmeted pilot, opaque visor and wearing an oxygen mask, has gone viral. No one has been able to verify if this one mystery pilot was able to achieve so many aerial victories on his own, and whether it is true or false, this not very credible legend is enough for the Ukrainian population to keep their spirits up.

The embodiment of a meme

With the flights of Russian armored vehicles by the tractors of the farmers and that of the Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island who said ” fuck you » to a ship Russian which asked them to surrender, the ghost of Kyiv is one of the most popular memes.

After a few weeks, we finally gave this ghost pilot a name. His name was Vladimir Abdonov, or Vladimir Makarov and now it would be Stepan Tarabalka, a 29-year-old fighter pilot. The soldier, married and father of an eight-year-old boy, really existed and was therefore shot down on March 13 during a fight while the forces russian were outnumbered, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces which officially announced his death. His parents interviewed recently were able to confirm his death, without further details, but evoking his career. The pilot was posthumously awarded the highest decorations of the country for his bravery. He was also awarded the title Hero of Ukraine. If no one knows if this young pilot was really this “ghost of Kyiv”, his death in combat comes to embody it so that this meme now becomes more than an image of Épinal.