Legend of ace pilot
How the “Ghost of Kiev” gives hope to Ukrainians
By Janis Peitsch
02/27/2022 01:16 am
As Russian units clamp down on the defenders of Kiev, the story of a successful fighter pilot watching over the capital goes viral. But there are some doubts about the authenticity of the heroic story.
Ukraine is in a critical situation. Russian troops have been attacking the country from several sides since the middle of the week and are already in front of the capital Kiev. For the Ukrainian state, it is about bare existence. In these threatening times, it’s no wonder urban legends about alleged exploits by Ukrainian soldiers are rife. For example, a picture of a soldier dubbed the “Ukrainian Grim Reaper” is circulating online and is said to have already eliminated 20 Russian soldiers. However, the story about an anonymous fighter pilot gets the most attention.
The plane, hailed as the “Ghost of Kiev,” is said to have destroyed five Russian planes on the first day of the invasion. That number of kills would make him the premier ace pilot of the 21st century. A video clip that has been circulated en masse on Twitter is said to show the fighter pilot’s MiG-29 taking down a Russian jet over Kiev. Even the Ukrainian ex-president Petro Poroshenko fueled the story and posted a picture of a pilot meant to show the “ghost of Kiev”. “With such strong defenders, Ukraine will definitely win,” he wrote alongside the photo.
But as heroic as the story may sound, there is no evidence of the pilot’s existence. When asked by the US magazine “Newsweek”, Ukrainian authorities could not confirm the authenticity of the story. In addition, fact-checkers from the Snopes website examined the short video, which is said to show the “Ghost of Kiev” in dogfights. The result: The clip was made with scenes from a computer game. In addition, critical Twitter users noted that the number of kills does not match the ammunition supply of a MiG-29.
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also took up the urban legend. The authority published this on Twitter on Friday afternoon photo a fighter jet. She wrote: “Dozens of experienced military pilots, from captains to generals, previously released from the reserve, are returning to the Armed Forces Air Force. Who knows, maybe one of them is the ghost in the MiG-29 that Kievans so often see”. Despite doubts about its authenticity, the legend of the “Ghost of Kiev” seems to be having an effect.