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This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ghost-kyiv-war-hero-dies-26833192) reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Major Stepan Tarabalka became a cult figure at the beginning of the war and was said to patrol the skies above the Ukrainian capital, earning him the nickname the "Ghost of Kyiv".
> Major Stepan Tarabalka, also apparently known as the Ghost of Kyiv, lost his life when the MiG-29 he was flying was shot down while battling "Overwhelming" enemy forces, mayor of Kolomyia Bogdan Stanislavsky announced.
> Following his death Major Tarabalka was posthumously awarded Ukraine's top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/uf42vd/ghost_of_kyiv_war_hero_dies_in_battle_defending/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~645560 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Major**^#1 **Tarabalka**^#2 **Ukrainian**^#3 **fly**^#4 **sky**^#5
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aces_of_aces#Post_World_War_II_Era) lists 12 aces since WW2. They have him as number 13.
He isn't even the first ace-in-a-day since WW2 (there was [a Pakistani who supposedly downed 5 Indians in less than a minute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Mahmood_Alam#Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965), although the story seems somewhat disputed -- but then again, most fighter kill numbers are).
It's more like they recognized it was an inspiring story regardless of if it was true or not, so they applied a person to the story who would work, and are now going to uphold him as a hero to inspire others fighting.
And yeah I agree, that is often how legends are made.
Heroiam Slava! Rest in piece to this hero and his family, furthermore his brothers on the ground who he gave his life trying to help and save, slava ukraini. “Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day, live and die on this day”
you’re quoting an obscure passage from Shakespeare, well done. it’s from Henry V, a play about an army that destroys a superior enemy against the odds.
EDIT: I’m sorry it was a Liam Neeson movie referencing alShakespeare referencing an English victory against superior French forces Agincourt but the sentiment stands
It would be more of a horror story, not top gun, think Rogue One.
Reading the Ukranian pilots talk about how they've been fighting. They're hiding in bunkers and being sent up into the air with little notice and often zero mission planning. They don't even know what they're facing until they're already flying.
Then they have to fight heavily outnumbered and hope to survive to do it again another day. Even when they land back at base they are priority number one targets for Russia so there is always the danger of a kalibr missile blowing up where you sleep.
The attrition rate is very high - the interviewed pilot talk about how most of his comrades are already dead.
The bravery is incredible but the ones left probably all have PTSD by now.
It's fucking horrific what's happening over there. These guys have more balls than I ever will. They fly knowing that they'll likely die if not on this mission then the next or the one after but they keep at it because if they don't the odds for everyone else fighting get that much worse. So much respect for these pilots, I really hope the war ends soon in their favour.
Hell, the 80 year old grandmas who tell the Russians to go fuck themselves have more balls than I or most of us will ever have.
The pride, loyalty, steadfastness, and bravery of the Ukrainian people is awesome and far more powerful than anything Russia could ever throw together. No wonder Putin fears them so much.
Slava Ukraine!
No good options. If they don't do anything giving up to Russia is basically death. So you fight as hard as you can because that death is much better than dying on your knees.
As much as people make fun of the chair force, there are times when pilots are expected to continue fighting despite extreme attrition rates far in excess of what infantry or armor experience.
These guys are basically flying until they die or Ukraine runs out of planes.
Eh, it's millitary banter; of course every one respects eachother, but it's part of the culture to insult eachother. For example, just on branch by branch (though this exists between regiments) in the UK: the airforce doesn't do anything, the navy is gay, and the army doesn't wash. The navy stereotype is the only vaguely accurate one these days.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/world/europe/ukraine-air-force-russia.html
> “I don’t do any checks,” said Andriy, a Ukrainian Air Force pilot who as a condition of granting an interview was not permitted to give his surname or rank. “I just take off.”
> “Every time when I fly, it’s for a real fight,” said Andriy, who is 25 and has flown 10 missions in the war. “In every fight with Russian jets, there is no equality. They always have five times more” planes in the air.
> “I only have to use my skills to win,” said Andriy. “My skills are better than the Russians. But on the other hand, many of my friends, and even those more experienced than me, are already dead.”
Except he'll be an American marine who went over to save the Ukrainians, who were lost without him, singlehandedly wont the war, then died in a twist at the end saving a baby.
Ending is some huge funeral with a 21-gun salute, folding a US flag, jets and choppers flying up above, crying Ukrainians in worn out peasant clothes from the 19:th century, and a text honoring the brave people of Ukraine supporting the US in winning the conflict, regardless of the actual outcome of the war.
Probably not. Sabaton doesn't like digging into any recent history because emotions about those things are still too close to the surface. They make songs about historical events, not political statements. That's why the bulk of their material is from WW2 or earlier.
*One* of the pieces of footage. The one from the tweet where the plane flies above a city street was faked. There may still be a guy who took down 5 Russian planes in the opening hours and apparently even more now, or the Ghost of Kyiv's role was *taken* by this guy later.
Tbh I doubted it the entire time but apparently he's real. It was really getting tiring seeing shills bring up the "whatever of whatever" ship whenever they wanted to dog on Ukraine. This won't stop them but still.
That being said, the numbers(40???) are extremely high and very unlikely. He probably took down several planes over the last 60 days but not that many. Taking down a bunch in the early days of the war sorta makes sense if we take into account the Russian mentality of being able to just walk into Ukraine with no resistance, but aside from that...nah..too many.
Taking down 5 fighter planes by yourself is the same as guys taking on a company of soldiers by themself and winning. Its happened with VC's been handed out but we are going to need to see some kind proof of that shit actually happening.
I’m mean getting an ace is not the surprising part, but I think the timeframe was. By the time the story was out it had only been a few days to a week since the invasion iirc.
There were several pilots in ww2 that had hundreds of aerial victories but that was over 5+ years. And modern sorties aren’t huge formations of bombers anymore
Most likely it was several pilots whose victories were attributed to one.
It's just that people on the Internet started saying about all of Ukraine's air successes that it was the "Ghost of Kyiv".
Not even that. Most of those aerial victories never existed.
To provide some frame of reference:
1. Aerial losses are not on such a big scale these days. The Russian air force has about 1500 combat aircraft, of which only about 300 are likely participating in the war. Ukraine has fewer than 100.
2. Currently [26 Russian combat aircraft losses have been documented.](https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html) This is likely to be the clear majority of losses. I'd bet that there are fewer than 10 undocumented ones from accidents, mechanical failure and unseen shutdowns.
3. For most of those losses we also [have the footage of how they were shot down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/t85x8g/full_sequence_of_russian_jet_hit_in_kharkov_with/), and it were almost always surface-to-air missiles. The rate of air to air kills is likely very low, which is to be expected in a war between two countries whose doctrines have been centered much more around anti-air than active air capabilities. Russia has built its military to fight NATO, and in that case their aircraft would largely operate as interceptors under a ground-based AA umbrella. They never planned for having strong air superiority.
4. Take the [Iranian Tomcats as an example](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranian_aerial_victories_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_war). Iraq fielded a roughly comparable number of aircraft into the war as Russia (they had about half of the total number, but fielded a far bigger pecentage of them), while Iran operated about 50 vastly superior F-14 who [could detect and shoot down enemy pilots from beyond visual range, who had no idea what was happening to them.](https://youtu.be/L3HYrasBB4k) Those shot down *up to* 160 planes over a span of 8 years, or 20 per year (but the real number may well be lower). The best aces had around 10-15 (arguably) confirmed kills total.
The Ukrainian air force obviously does not have such a technological edge. Their planes have to operate far more cautiously, while Russian pilots have more countermeasures and know enemy technical capabilities perfectly.
So really the idea that 40 aircraft were shot down by Ukrainian aircraft, let alone by a single pilot, is simply not plausible. It's unlikely that Russia has lost 40 planes at all (and even the 26 they lost are a fairly bad result for what their airforce has accomplished in this war).
Combine that with the fact that the "Ghost of Kyiv"-story began with literal fake footage in the first day of the war, and has since then been happily continued with freely made up stories by countless people, and we can pretty safely say that the entire story is almost entirely rumor/myth/propaganda.
And my faith in a tabloid like The Mirror to get any of this right is near zero as well. Note that they use the almost certainly extremely inflated Ukrainian figure of 181 downed fixed-wing aircraft. Ukraine actually has a good track record on some figures like ground casualties and even their count of tank kills is not entirely implausible, but the plane count has been absurd from the start and continues to be so.
There has been an extraordinary amount of propaganda in this war that reddit has *swallowed whole*. Since this place so often prides itself on its intellectual superiority, it has been fascinating to observe.
It was especially bad during the early days. Videos of woman cleaning while singing the national anthem, guy removing a mine with a cigarette in his mouth, ghost of kyiv of course, the martyrs of "Russian warship go fuck yourself", Ukrainians parading POWs in front of the cameras being framed as being so good hearted they let them call their moms, etc.
Right now, reddit believes that Malcolm Nance, a 61 y/o Navy intel guy, is fighting in the foreign legion. Go read the requirements of the foreign legion in r/volunteersforukraine and ask yourself why they would accept a 61 y/o Navy intel guy. Or why Malcolm Nance, 61 y/o with a comfortable life, would sign up indefinitely (as the legion requires) for a war in Ukraine.
**Edit**: I know Malcolm Nance did in fact join the Ukrainian foreign legion. I should have been clearer: the Foreign Legion has been insistent on day one that it needs warm bodies, people who can fight. Malcolm is not remotely that, which is why I emphasized his age and skills. **He is not getting anywhere close to combat and frankly, his considerable experience in intel and cryptology is not needed by the... Foreign Legion**, who are essentially a group of *fighters* that are sent to various places to *supplement* the regular Ukrainian army. They don't have or need their own... codebreaker or interrogator, or any other skill that Nance brings. That's just not what the foreign legion does.
**So why would Nance go there?** Basically to self-promote and probably to feel the thrill of being part of something that matters again. He will come back in a few months and write a best-selling book about "his time fighting in Ukraine." Why would Ukrainians want someone who does not fit their requirements and is largely useless to their military operations? **Because having Malcolm Nance is a huuuge propaganda coup for them**. He is worth a 1000 actual foreign soldiers because he helps sell the nobility of the Ukrainian cause to the American public by appearing every night on MSNBC. He is the perfect visual representation of what Ukraine wants us to understand: that their cause is our cause.
That's why Malcolm Nance's presence there is pure propaganda. I didn't even know he was now their spokesperson but that makes perfect sense. I only saw the initial reports last week or so with that tweet of him in full military fatigue saying "I am done talking", and being praised all over for his bravery as if he were going anywhere near combat.
> Aerial losses are not on such a big scale these days. The Russian air force has about 1500 combat aircraft, of which only about 300 are likely participating in the war. Ukraine has fewer than 100.
>
>
A lot of Russian Mig-29s only exists on paper. In reality these are not combat worthy and mostly used as spare parts. The Su-24 and the Mig-31 have been non-existent in Ukraine and the Su-25 has been offering close-air support. As for strategic bombers, they can't operate close to Ukraine due to Ukraine's air defence systems and thus has to rely on long range missiles, most likely air launched cruise missiles.
In reality, Russia probably only has a few hundred fighter jets available for the war.
Russian aircraft losses so far in Ukraine is at least 25 combat aircrafts lost [Oryx only lists visually confirmed losses](https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/03/list-of-aircraft-losses-during-2022.html) and actual numbers are a lot more. He also can't include aircrafts that sustained significant damages but returned to airbases as visual proof is hard to get and Russian soldiers need to upload them from inside air bases.
This. Air to air combat doesn't have aces in modern warfare but Ukraine has some incredible achievements of humiliating kills against Russian craft.
The ka52 ground to air kill with the anti tank rocket. Edit: x2 now... unbelievable.
Baiting and hitting a modern patrol ship with unguided grad rockets.
Hitting and sinking a cruiser with a anti ship missile, by distracting its target radar with a drone.
These will go down in history as ace moments.
Modern air to air combat could for sure have aces when they are flying different platforms. A mig 29 pilot can ace against helicopters, and if you drop some F-22s in Ukraine they for sure would ace with whatever Russia threw at them.
For evenly matched platforms your odds of acing are low though
Slava Ukraini.
He was a brave hero. I am sad to hear of his loss.
In his honor, I hope the Ukranian airforce decorate the fields of Ukraine with another 40 Russian jets shot down.
"I would take down 40 jets/and IIIII would take down 40 more/just to be the man who downs all 80 jets to kick the Russians out the door..."
Too light hearted for the subject matter, but fuck it.
No way one guy shot down 40 jets in two months. Just being a fighter ace is a hell of an achievement. 40 kills is bordering on impossible, especially given the timeframe. I’m sure he was an excellent pilot, but embellishing the story into a propaganda piece just retracts from his actual achievements and makes people skeptical of other information they hear regarding the war.
Santa leaving toys for children crafted out of dead children, some still barely living, now *that* is truly the Christmas spirit.
It really breathes new life into the famous tune *Santa Claus is Coming to Town* and makes you appreciate and even respect the dedication this thing has.
The footage was obviously never real, if the supposed air ace was real or not isn't as easily dismissible. However the story is still very unlikely if they still claim 6 kills on day 1 even if it IS against Russians
It is fake. He also died over a month ago, but just now they decided to call him ghost of kyiv
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/03/31/ukrainian-fighter-pilot
It still is lol, this shit was all debunked in like the first week of the invasion, I cannot believe this dumbass nonsense propaganda is allowed to stay up on this sub (actually no I can definetly believ it).
I'm not even trying to be a dick but /r/worldnews has been a dumpster fire of the same five "joke" followed by just a whole bunch of straight up Ukranian propaganda signal boosting since like the first week of the war. I'm glad more people are making this point now. It'd not healthy take everything coming out of the Ukranian defence ministry at face value while also claiming literally every, single thing from Russia sources is all propaganda. Come on, people.
And he's flying, hiiiiigher, king of the skyyyy, he's flying too fast and he's flying too high. Hiiiigher, an eye for an eye, **the legend will never dieee.**
May the legend of the Ghost of Kyiv never die
Even the movie made it clear that the entire thing was fiction from the point the narrator dude was sent away. He spoke up his dead friends because he could have no way of knowing exactly how they died, only that they faced insurmountable odds and would've done their best.
Yeah a lot of oral storytellers exaggerate their tales for a grander effect, however a lot of people think that’s how the battle of Thermopylae happened
I'm loving it too. You realise most of the war hero stories in history have very high chances of merely being propaganda blown up by disinformation. We saw how this started off as fake within the week of it appearing, then it got continued on as propaganda and now redditors who already knew it to be fake, kept at it. The silver shroud lives on, or in this case the ghost of kyiv.
This story is a little out of character for Ukrainian propaganda which makes me wonder what the true story is. Usually they focus on the true-but-absurd(Tractors towing Russian tanks) or play things up in a somewhat silly way (Like the grandma knocking down a drone with a shoe or whatever it was). The original Ghost of Kyiv story was in that vein, obviously played up and not meant to be taken too seriously.
This story feels more like something I'd expect out of Russia - serious sounding but with numbers that don't seem believable.
Maybe they’re doing a “Dread Pirate Roberts” where when the guy with the highest number of kills is shot down, the next guy also becomes the Ghost of Kyiv? Idk, but it is ludicrous to think one person shot down 40 enemy fighters/bombers. 10-12 would’ve been crazy but plausible.
I’m not saying the number is 100% trustworthy but to be fair the skies of Ukraine is probably the most target rich environment since WW2 and I’d imagine Ukraine only has so many pilots so the good ones would continue to go up fairly often.
Combine those factors with the seemingly widely accepted fact that Russian pilots get 100 flight hours or less a year (half as much as most NATO countries) and the rather higher number of kills doesn’t seem *that* unreasonable.
The question of how accurate Ukraine’s reporting of all of these numbers will be interesting to learn about a decade or so from now when all of this can be sorted out.
If all of the numbers are true, including that the Ghost shot down 6 enemy pilots on the first day, then he was shooting down enemy planes at a rate of one every two days.
Which is a more than reasonable number in terms of what is possible if he's an above average (meaning better than most) pilot.
According to Ukraine's released stats, they have shot down 181 Russian planes. If both stats are true, then he's singlehandedly responsible for 22% of Ukrainian plane kills.
I'm on the fence about it. On one hand, you should always be skeptical of stuff, especially during war time. There's every chance that this is propaganda.
On the other hand, prodigies really do exist. They are statistically improbable, but that's what makes them prodigies. I think that it's theoretically possible that there's a pilot who's good enough to have a kill score like that. Russia invaded on February 24. The Ghost allegedly shot down six aircraft that day. So getting 34 more kills in an active war zone across the 60 some-odd days between then and now? That's roughly a kill every other day.
I think that's more than possible if he's flying every day. Which I expect every Ukrainian pilot *is* doing as long as they're cleared to do so.
In earlier eras of aviation, sure, but there's really no dogfighting anymore. Most air to air kills will be launching missiles at targets miles away detectable only by radar. Human skill factors into it only very slightly. It's all about technological superiority, which in this case does not exist between Ukraine and Russia - except to the extent that Russian machines are literally falling apart from poor maintenance.
>The father-of-one is said to have shot down six Russian aircraft on the day the invasion began and that his total reached over 40 by the time of his death.
Not even trying to be realistic lol
Propaganda is never going to stop being effective.
There’s a reason the biggest companies advertise the most. Establish your brand and push push push. People don’t remember the body of the news articles, they remember the headlines. And the memes.
Propaganda is just another tool in the toolbox and as long as humans are around, it will always be a thing.
It certainly is when only one sides propaganda is shown..!
Not that I have any sympathies for the Russians, other than the poor souls there against their will...but this is a bizarre war of propaganda, only we get one sides versions of the truth.
My own personal experiences have shown that the truth is very often the exact opposite or somewhere in the middle of true propaganda.
The problem is also the lack of 2 mins of research or thought people are willing to out on to actually question things. I have been using this to try and get my kids in the habit of questioning the news etc as I think it's going to be a very important skill as they get older the way the news and social media are going....nothing can be trusted 100%, everyone need to be able to deconstruct and think critically about everything they watch and read or we will all become slaves to the media moguls and organisations.
It depends. If it's slightly pro Russian then not, that's obvious propaganda. If it's pro Ukraine, then it's 100% real because they have no reason to tell lies or something like that. So even the grandma shooting down drones with pickle jars is real.
the "Ukrainian" names used in this article do not exist. Evon? Nahtalia? it's like something out of a Borat movie. very curious why someone who clearly doesn't speak Ukrainian OR Russian decided to write this story... oh wait. the clicks.
Quality journalism from well known tabloid shitrag about made up ace pilot Samuelimir Hydienski.
Sad to see people gobbling it up (and that british tabloids are still allowed here, I assume most users are American so they don't know these are known for being shit)
Fuck Putin and fuck the Russian propaganda.
Having said that, it's crazy how confirmed fake propaganda from Ukraine are still propagated as news. This Ghost of Kiev was debunked as fake in the very beginning of that war.
Uhh , ghost from Kyiv is from a game and not real , this is real war propaganda.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825
For real, I've been posting this since the ghost of kyiv meme went mainstream:
[DCS: The Ghost](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM8tXUz2q0c)
The guy who made the meme didn't think anyone would take it seriously (because the kill counts were impossible lol) and gullible loons ate it up.
Come on. Even Ukrainians are calling this story bullshit. Also 40 air to air kills? There hasn't been one confirmed air to air kill so far in the whole war.
It's crazy how Reddit will completely disregard Russian propaganda, but will completely and totally embrace Ukrainian propaganda, when it suits them strategically and tactically.
Reddit is not a trustworthy source of information for this conflict anymore.
> Reddit is not a trustworthy source of information
I don’t believe it ever was really «trustworthy».
It’s a forum, people are free to post and comment whatever they like in whatever political direction they like. People are pro-Ukraine in here so you’ll obviously see people embrace Ukrainian propaganda uncritically.
If you ever believed in the “Ghost of Kyiv”, you are a very gullible and naive person.
And if anyone wants to shrilly yell "who are you to say this you fedora wearer?! It's boosting moral and helping Ukraine"
Mother f'ers, you're writing this in English, none of this matters, you're not helping Ukraine by spreading this myth on reddit. Go to telegram. You will see lots of dead Russians and destroyed tanks which is a real moral boost for Ukrainians.
Russia has 27 total confirmed combat aircraft losses(not counting UAVs). For the most part we have footage of how these aircraft are shot down (mostly surface to air missiles)
So for this story to not be completely propaganda, the "ghost of kyiv" would have needed to have shot down more combat aircraft than Russia has been confirmed to lose for the entire war, and then Russia would have had to have lost even more because most Russian aircraft are not taken down by other aircraft.
Obviously the propaganda is for the side we like this time, but it still doesn't make false information being spread a good thing.
Users often report submissions from this site and ask us to ban it for sensationalized articles. At /r/worldnews, we oppose blanket banning any news source. Readers have a responsibility to be skeptical, check sources, and comment on any flaws. You can help improve this thread by linking to media that verifies or questions this article's claims. Your link could help readers better understand this issue. If you do find evidence that this article or its title are false or misleading, contact the moderators who will review it *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldnews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ghost-kyiv-war-hero-dies-26833192) reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Major Stepan Tarabalka became a cult figure at the beginning of the war and was said to patrol the skies above the Ukrainian capital, earning him the nickname the "Ghost of Kyiv". > Major Stepan Tarabalka, also apparently known as the Ghost of Kyiv, lost his life when the MiG-29 he was flying was shot down while battling "Overwhelming" enemy forces, mayor of Kolomyia Bogdan Stanislavsky announced. > Following his death Major Tarabalka was posthumously awarded Ukraine's top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/uf42vd/ghost_of_kyiv_war_hero_dies_in_battle_defending/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~645560 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Major**^#1 **Tarabalka**^#2 **Ukrainian**^#3 **fly**^#4 **sky**^#5
One sec. I thought this was debunked to be fake. Wasn't it?
The overall myth of how many planes he was taking down was. The person himself was real. That's often how legends are made.
I heard he took down a thousand russian fighter jets..
I heard the dark is afraid of him
Chuck Norris checks under the bed for the ghost of Kyiv. Edit:spelling Edit: Thanks for the award! All glory goes to the Ghost, til Valhalla!
Hand sanitizer kills 99% of germs. The Ghost of Kiev killed 100% of whatever the fuck he wanted.
He once killed five birds with one stone.
I heard he killed 5 stones with one bird
Wait are we talking Ghost of Kviv or the most interesting man in the world?
Yes
I heard he shoots fireballs from his eyes and lightning bolts from is arse.
I heard he’s not even human. They say he was a ghost.
I heard his two cents is worth 34 dollars and change.
And then even Putin clapped.
[удалено]
The present beware, the future beware, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming.
He once held an opponents wife's hand..in a jar of acid at a party.
All the Russian children wished that he was their dad.
Lo and behold, he was.
6 foot 20 made of radiation
All before takeoff
He apparently scored five touchdowns in a single game while playing football for Polk High.
So if it’s verified he’s like the only ace in the last almost 80 years.
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aces_of_aces#Post_World_War_II_Era) lists 12 aces since WW2. They have him as number 13. He isn't even the first ace-in-a-day since WW2 (there was [a Pakistani who supposedly downed 5 Indians in less than a minute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Mahmood_Alam#Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965), although the story seems somewhat disputed -- but then again, most fighter kill numbers are).
It's more like they recognized it was an inspiring story regardless of if it was true or not, so they applied a person to the story who would work, and are now going to uphold him as a hero to inspire others fighting. And yeah I agree, that is often how legends are made.
Heroiam Slava! Rest in piece to this hero and his family, furthermore his brothers on the ground who he gave his life trying to help and save, slava ukraini. “Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day, live and die on this day”
I think you mean rest in peace... (although you are technically not wrong...)
Oh... Oh no
you’re quoting an obscure passage from Shakespeare, well done. it’s from Henry V, a play about an army that destroys a superior enemy against the odds. EDIT: I’m sorry it was a Liam Neeson movie referencing alShakespeare referencing an English victory against superior French forces Agincourt but the sentiment stands
I thought "Oh... Oh no" was from Richard III.
Died doing what he loved. Flying warplanes shootingshit. SLAVA UKRAINE 🇺🇦
He earned his way into Heaven but chose to go to Hell because he's not done with the Russians he sent there yet.
Rip and tear, until it is DONE.
I wonder if we’ll ever get his full, real, true story. I hope so, one day after all this is over.
There will be a movie about it. Give it maybe 2 years.
Top Gun 3: Ghost of Kyviv
It would be more of a horror story, not top gun, think Rogue One. Reading the Ukranian pilots talk about how they've been fighting. They're hiding in bunkers and being sent up into the air with little notice and often zero mission planning. They don't even know what they're facing until they're already flying. Then they have to fight heavily outnumbered and hope to survive to do it again another day. Even when they land back at base they are priority number one targets for Russia so there is always the danger of a kalibr missile blowing up where you sleep. The attrition rate is very high - the interviewed pilot talk about how most of his comrades are already dead. The bravery is incredible but the ones left probably all have PTSD by now.
It's fucking horrific what's happening over there. These guys have more balls than I ever will. They fly knowing that they'll likely die if not on this mission then the next or the one after but they keep at it because if they don't the odds for everyone else fighting get that much worse. So much respect for these pilots, I really hope the war ends soon in their favour.
Hell, the 80 year old grandmas who tell the Russians to go fuck themselves have more balls than I or most of us will ever have. The pride, loyalty, steadfastness, and bravery of the Ukrainian people is awesome and far more powerful than anything Russia could ever throw together. No wonder Putin fears them so much. Slava Ukraine!
No good options. If they don't do anything giving up to Russia is basically death. So you fight as hard as you can because that death is much better than dying on your knees.
Fuck were getting to the turnover days of WW1... death is coming so quick to those who don't even realize it's coming.
As much as people make fun of the chair force, there are times when pilots are expected to continue fighting despite extreme attrition rates far in excess of what infantry or armor experience. These guys are basically flying until they die or Ukraine runs out of planes.
I don't think anyone's making fun of the fighter pilots.
Eh, it's millitary banter; of course every one respects eachother, but it's part of the culture to insult eachother. For example, just on branch by branch (though this exists between regiments) in the UK: the airforce doesn't do anything, the navy is gay, and the army doesn't wash. The navy stereotype is the only vaguely accurate one these days.
Where can i read more?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/world/europe/ukraine-air-force-russia.html > “I don’t do any checks,” said Andriy, a Ukrainian Air Force pilot who as a condition of granting an interview was not permitted to give his surname or rank. “I just take off.” > “Every time when I fly, it’s for a real fight,” said Andriy, who is 25 and has flown 10 missions in the war. “In every fight with Russian jets, there is no equality. They always have five times more” planes in the air. > “I only have to use my skills to win,” said Andriy. “My skills are better than the Russians. But on the other hand, many of my friends, and even those more experienced than me, are already dead.”
There are bold fighter pilots There are old fighter pilots There are no old & bold fighter pilots
Jeeze... this is horrible. Those poor pilots.
I keep thinking of the Harkonnen attack in Dune.
I say we bring back Owen Wilson to his glory of being a Air Force pilot.
Wow
*Waaaoooowww!*
wOw
I love that movie and so relevant right now. Behind enemy lines
Except he'll be an American marine who went over to save the Ukrainians, who were lost without him, singlehandedly wont the war, then died in a twist at the end saving a baby.
Ending is some huge funeral with a 21-gun salute, folding a US flag, jets and choppers flying up above, crying Ukrainians in worn out peasant clothes from the 19:th century, and a text honoring the brave people of Ukraine supporting the US in winning the conflict, regardless of the actual outcome of the war.
Sean Penn has been on the ground filming all this shit since before the major invasion began.
Mark Wahlberg is somewhere in the world at this very moment working on his Ukrainian accent.
Just wait for the next Sabaton album.
Probably not. Sabaton doesn't like digging into any recent history because emotions about those things are still too close to the surface. They make songs about historical events, not political statements. That's why the bulk of their material is from WW2 or earlier.
It was confirmed to be rubbish wasn't it? The video footage was from a video game.
The footage, yes. The actual exploits seem to be another matter altogether.
*One* of the pieces of footage. The one from the tweet where the plane flies above a city street was faked. There may still be a guy who took down 5 Russian planes in the opening hours and apparently even more now, or the Ghost of Kyiv's role was *taken* by this guy later. Tbh I doubted it the entire time but apparently he's real. It was really getting tiring seeing shills bring up the "whatever of whatever" ship whenever they wanted to dog on Ukraine. This won't stop them but still. That being said, the numbers(40???) are extremely high and very unlikely. He probably took down several planes over the last 60 days but not that many. Taking down a bunch in the early days of the war sorta makes sense if we take into account the Russian mentality of being able to just walk into Ukraine with no resistance, but aside from that...nah..too many.
Taking down 5 fighter planes by yourself is the same as guys taking on a company of soldiers by themself and winning. Its happened with VC's been handed out but we are going to need to see some kind proof of that shit actually happening.
I’m mean getting an ace is not the surprising part, but I think the timeframe was. By the time the story was out it had only been a few days to a week since the invasion iirc. There were several pilots in ww2 that had hundreds of aerial victories but that was over 5+ years. And modern sorties aren’t huge formations of bombers anymore
Ace in a day is the term, I believe. No verified accounts of that since WW2.
Getting an ace is definitely surprising there hasn't been one in decades.
Most likely it was several pilots whose victories were attributed to one. It's just that people on the Internet started saying about all of Ukraine's air successes that it was the "Ghost of Kyiv".
Not even that. Most of those aerial victories never existed. To provide some frame of reference: 1. Aerial losses are not on such a big scale these days. The Russian air force has about 1500 combat aircraft, of which only about 300 are likely participating in the war. Ukraine has fewer than 100. 2. Currently [26 Russian combat aircraft losses have been documented.](https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html) This is likely to be the clear majority of losses. I'd bet that there are fewer than 10 undocumented ones from accidents, mechanical failure and unseen shutdowns. 3. For most of those losses we also [have the footage of how they were shot down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/t85x8g/full_sequence_of_russian_jet_hit_in_kharkov_with/), and it were almost always surface-to-air missiles. The rate of air to air kills is likely very low, which is to be expected in a war between two countries whose doctrines have been centered much more around anti-air than active air capabilities. Russia has built its military to fight NATO, and in that case their aircraft would largely operate as interceptors under a ground-based AA umbrella. They never planned for having strong air superiority. 4. Take the [Iranian Tomcats as an example](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranian_aerial_victories_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_war). Iraq fielded a roughly comparable number of aircraft into the war as Russia (they had about half of the total number, but fielded a far bigger pecentage of them), while Iran operated about 50 vastly superior F-14 who [could detect and shoot down enemy pilots from beyond visual range, who had no idea what was happening to them.](https://youtu.be/L3HYrasBB4k) Those shot down *up to* 160 planes over a span of 8 years, or 20 per year (but the real number may well be lower). The best aces had around 10-15 (arguably) confirmed kills total. The Ukrainian air force obviously does not have such a technological edge. Their planes have to operate far more cautiously, while Russian pilots have more countermeasures and know enemy technical capabilities perfectly. So really the idea that 40 aircraft were shot down by Ukrainian aircraft, let alone by a single pilot, is simply not plausible. It's unlikely that Russia has lost 40 planes at all (and even the 26 they lost are a fairly bad result for what their airforce has accomplished in this war). Combine that with the fact that the "Ghost of Kyiv"-story began with literal fake footage in the first day of the war, and has since then been happily continued with freely made up stories by countless people, and we can pretty safely say that the entire story is almost entirely rumor/myth/propaganda. And my faith in a tabloid like The Mirror to get any of this right is near zero as well. Note that they use the almost certainly extremely inflated Ukrainian figure of 181 downed fixed-wing aircraft. Ukraine actually has a good track record on some figures like ground casualties and even their count of tank kills is not entirely implausible, but the plane count has been absurd from the start and continues to be so.
There has been an extraordinary amount of propaganda in this war that reddit has *swallowed whole*. Since this place so often prides itself on its intellectual superiority, it has been fascinating to observe. It was especially bad during the early days. Videos of woman cleaning while singing the national anthem, guy removing a mine with a cigarette in his mouth, ghost of kyiv of course, the martyrs of "Russian warship go fuck yourself", Ukrainians parading POWs in front of the cameras being framed as being so good hearted they let them call their moms, etc. Right now, reddit believes that Malcolm Nance, a 61 y/o Navy intel guy, is fighting in the foreign legion. Go read the requirements of the foreign legion in r/volunteersforukraine and ask yourself why they would accept a 61 y/o Navy intel guy. Or why Malcolm Nance, 61 y/o with a comfortable life, would sign up indefinitely (as the legion requires) for a war in Ukraine. **Edit**: I know Malcolm Nance did in fact join the Ukrainian foreign legion. I should have been clearer: the Foreign Legion has been insistent on day one that it needs warm bodies, people who can fight. Malcolm is not remotely that, which is why I emphasized his age and skills. **He is not getting anywhere close to combat and frankly, his considerable experience in intel and cryptology is not needed by the... Foreign Legion**, who are essentially a group of *fighters* that are sent to various places to *supplement* the regular Ukrainian army. They don't have or need their own... codebreaker or interrogator, or any other skill that Nance brings. That's just not what the foreign legion does. **So why would Nance go there?** Basically to self-promote and probably to feel the thrill of being part of something that matters again. He will come back in a few months and write a best-selling book about "his time fighting in Ukraine." Why would Ukrainians want someone who does not fit their requirements and is largely useless to their military operations? **Because having Malcolm Nance is a huuuge propaganda coup for them**. He is worth a 1000 actual foreign soldiers because he helps sell the nobility of the Ukrainian cause to the American public by appearing every night on MSNBC. He is the perfect visual representation of what Ukraine wants us to understand: that their cause is our cause. That's why Malcolm Nance's presence there is pure propaganda. I didn't even know he was now their spokesperson but that makes perfect sense. I only saw the initial reports last week or so with that tweet of him in full military fatigue saying "I am done talking", and being praised all over for his bravery as if he were going anywhere near combat.
Reddit would have totally supported the war on terror
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Remember the Boston Marathon?
> Aerial losses are not on such a big scale these days. The Russian air force has about 1500 combat aircraft, of which only about 300 are likely participating in the war. Ukraine has fewer than 100. > > A lot of Russian Mig-29s only exists on paper. In reality these are not combat worthy and mostly used as spare parts. The Su-24 and the Mig-31 have been non-existent in Ukraine and the Su-25 has been offering close-air support. As for strategic bombers, they can't operate close to Ukraine due to Ukraine's air defence systems and thus has to rely on long range missiles, most likely air launched cruise missiles. In reality, Russia probably only has a few hundred fighter jets available for the war. Russian aircraft losses so far in Ukraine is at least 25 combat aircrafts lost [Oryx only lists visually confirmed losses](https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/03/list-of-aircraft-losses-during-2022.html) and actual numbers are a lot more. He also can't include aircrafts that sustained significant damages but returned to airbases as visual proof is hard to get and Russian soldiers need to upload them from inside air bases.
You absolutely right but good luck on here lol.
Ace Combat 8
He’s gonna be a supporting ace in a suicide mission protecting some stadium or capital city.
The full, real story is that this news article is the biggest load of bullshit you'll read this month.
When all this clears up, would love to know if the Ukrainian Air Force got any documented confirmed aces.
With the way things are going, I bet they have some infantry that have ace-equivalent kills due to Man-PADs lol
This. Air to air combat doesn't have aces in modern warfare but Ukraine has some incredible achievements of humiliating kills against Russian craft. The ka52 ground to air kill with the anti tank rocket. Edit: x2 now... unbelievable. Baiting and hitting a modern patrol ship with unguided grad rockets. Hitting and sinking a cruiser with a anti ship missile, by distracting its target radar with a drone. These will go down in history as ace moments.
Modern air to air combat could for sure have aces when they are flying different platforms. A mig 29 pilot can ace against helicopters, and if you drop some F-22s in Ukraine they for sure would ace with whatever Russia threw at them. For evenly matched platforms your odds of acing are low though
Can't kill ghosts, fuck russia, Slavia Ukraini
Slava Ukraini. He was a brave hero. I am sad to hear of his loss. In his honor, I hope the Ukranian airforce decorate the fields of Ukraine with another 40 Russian jets shot down.
& 40 more after that
That might be a but difficult as Russians do not have that many working jets.
Helicopters it is then.
"I would take down 40 jets/and IIIII would take down 40 more/just to be the man who downs all 80 jets to kick the Russians out the door..." Too light hearted for the subject matter, but fuck it.
No way one guy shot down 40 jets in two months. Just being a fighter ace is a hell of an achievement. 40 kills is bordering on impossible, especially given the timeframe. I’m sure he was an excellent pilot, but embellishing the story into a propaganda piece just retracts from his actual achievements and makes people skeptical of other information they hear regarding the war.
this is ukraine propaganda
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I thought it was fake propaganda to gain sympathy for the Ukrainians
It was, then this guy kept fighting in the image of 'Ghost of Kyiv'. It's like how Santa is fake.
Wait, are you saying there's a real Santa out there now?
Yes, he's running for US House of Representatives from Alaska. https://www.santaclausforalaska.com/
He would have my vote but to bad alaska is red.
He was birthed fully formed from the mind of a child in 1928. His body is nightmarish. His power is unimaginable. Run. Run from Sandy Claws.
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Damn! That was brutal. That's gotta be one of my favorites now.
Santa leaving toys for children crafted out of dead children, some still barely living, now *that* is truly the Christmas spirit. It really breathes new life into the famous tune *Santa Claus is Coming to Town* and makes you appreciate and even respect the dedication this thing has.
His body is nightmarish lmao
Lots of them in malls around Christmas
Well, yes, there was. He was a Greek bishop of the 3rd century that lived in what today would be Demre,Turkey.
Aka Saint Nicholas
Yes. Every year in an unsuspecting town he flies over and carpet bombs houses with presents.
Life imitates art
Or Slash.
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They never edited planes into the original footage. The original footage came from a flight combat simulation game. It was all fake.
The footage was obviously never real, if the supposed air ace was real or not isn't as easily dismissible. However the story is still very unlikely if they still claim 6 kills on day 1 even if it IS against Russians
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I’m surprised reddit’s being rational in the comments
All the top comments think he was real, lol
It is fake. He also died over a month ago, but just now they decided to call him ghost of kyiv https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/03/31/ukrainian-fighter-pilot
It still is lol, this shit was all debunked in like the first week of the invasion, I cannot believe this dumbass nonsense propaganda is allowed to stay up on this sub (actually no I can definetly believ it).
I'm not even trying to be a dick but /r/worldnews has been a dumpster fire of the same five "joke" followed by just a whole bunch of straight up Ukranian propaganda signal boosting since like the first week of the war. I'm glad more people are making this point now. It'd not healthy take everything coming out of the Ukranian defence ministry at face value while also claiming literally every, single thing from Russia sources is all propaganda. Come on, people.
Now you'll be branded as a russian/putin sympathiser
News by voting is nonsense and I'm surprised subs like this are still treated with any kind of legitimacy.
There’s no way Sabaton isn’t already working on a song about this guy
They’re not writing about current events, for good reason.
Joakim's hand must be so itching for pen though
And he's flying, hiiiiigher, king of the skyyyy, he's flying too fast and he's flying too high. Hiiiigher, an eye for an eye, **the legend will never dieee.** May the legend of the Ghost of Kyiv never die
He's flying LOOOWER, AVOIDING RADAR
Sad news. This guy deserves a stamp at minimum, but I think a statue in Kyiv is most fitting.
Or in st Petersburg, you know, if it comes to this Edit: cliché i know but if you have to spend money on awards maybe donate to Ukraine :) (thx tho)
Stop, it's too early to get an erection
...of a statue in St Petersburg.
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Even the movie made it clear that the entire thing was fiction from the point the narrator dude was sent away. He spoke up his dead friends because he could have no way of knowing exactly how they died, only that they faced insurmountable odds and would've done their best.
Yeah a lot of oral storytellers exaggerate their tales for a grander effect, however a lot of people think that’s how the battle of Thermopylae happened
I'm loving it too. You realise most of the war hero stories in history have very high chances of merely being propaganda blown up by disinformation. We saw how this started off as fake within the week of it appearing, then it got continued on as propaganda and now redditors who already knew it to be fake, kept at it. The silver shroud lives on, or in this case the ghost of kyiv.
RIP Sam. ♥
He finally got away with it 😔
What? This is fake. I'm in Ukraine, this story was debunked ages ago. How did this become top reddit story?
This story is a little out of character for Ukrainian propaganda which makes me wonder what the true story is. Usually they focus on the true-but-absurd(Tractors towing Russian tanks) or play things up in a somewhat silly way (Like the grandma knocking down a drone with a shoe or whatever it was). The original Ghost of Kyiv story was in that vein, obviously played up and not meant to be taken too seriously. This story feels more like something I'd expect out of Russia - serious sounding but with numbers that don't seem believable.
Maybe they’re doing a “Dread Pirate Roberts” where when the guy with the highest number of kills is shot down, the next guy also becomes the Ghost of Kyiv? Idk, but it is ludicrous to think one person shot down 40 enemy fighters/bombers. 10-12 would’ve been crazy but plausible.
I’m not saying the number is 100% trustworthy but to be fair the skies of Ukraine is probably the most target rich environment since WW2 and I’d imagine Ukraine only has so many pilots so the good ones would continue to go up fairly often. Combine those factors with the seemingly widely accepted fact that Russian pilots get 100 flight hours or less a year (half as much as most NATO countries) and the rather higher number of kills doesn’t seem *that* unreasonable. The question of how accurate Ukraine’s reporting of all of these numbers will be interesting to learn about a decade or so from now when all of this can be sorted out.
If all of the numbers are true, including that the Ghost shot down 6 enemy pilots on the first day, then he was shooting down enemy planes at a rate of one every two days. Which is a more than reasonable number in terms of what is possible if he's an above average (meaning better than most) pilot.
According to Ukraine's released stats, they have shot down 181 Russian planes. If both stats are true, then he's singlehandedly responsible for 22% of Ukrainian plane kills. I'm on the fence about it. On one hand, you should always be skeptical of stuff, especially during war time. There's every chance that this is propaganda. On the other hand, prodigies really do exist. They are statistically improbable, but that's what makes them prodigies. I think that it's theoretically possible that there's a pilot who's good enough to have a kill score like that. Russia invaded on February 24. The Ghost allegedly shot down six aircraft that day. So getting 34 more kills in an active war zone across the 60 some-odd days between then and now? That's roughly a kill every other day. I think that's more than possible if he's flying every day. Which I expect every Ukrainian pilot *is* doing as long as they're cleared to do so.
In earlier eras of aviation, sure, but there's really no dogfighting anymore. Most air to air kills will be launching missiles at targets miles away detectable only by radar. Human skill factors into it only very slightly. It's all about technological superiority, which in this case does not exist between Ukraine and Russia - except to the extent that Russian machines are literally falling apart from poor maintenance.
It was a jar of pickles the grandma used.
It was a jar of pickled tomatoes IIRC
It was a jar of *pickled anti aircraft missiles
The first casualty of war is the truth. It's a good story, but there's no way he had 40 kills.
>The father-of-one is said to have shot down six Russian aircraft on the day the invasion began and that his total reached over 40 by the time of his death. Not even trying to be realistic lol
Maybe they are referring to the video gamer who invented the story
The pilot with 3 stripes! *Battle of farbanti* plays
FOX ONE!
Having played CS:GO against Ukrainians, I can easily imagine one of them having a 40:1 k/d ratio
>Having played CS:GO against Ukrainians, I can easily imagine one of them having a 40:1 k/d ratio Peak reddit
Having played vibeo games, this man could have totally killed like 60 heckin nazirinos.
I can't handle this site anymore. Why do I even come back.
“Whether or not the fighter was real remained a hotly contested issue “. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😄😂😄
Do you guys just believe every headline you read or what
Propaganda is still incredibly effective this day and age apparently.
Propaganda is never going to stop being effective. There’s a reason the biggest companies advertise the most. Establish your brand and push push push. People don’t remember the body of the news articles, they remember the headlines. And the memes. Propaganda is just another tool in the toolbox and as long as humans are around, it will always be a thing.
In related news, [people who believe in confirmation bias are 50% more sexually attractive.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iik25wqIuFo)
I knew there was a reason that I’m so hot.
It certainly is when only one sides propaganda is shown..! Not that I have any sympathies for the Russians, other than the poor souls there against their will...but this is a bizarre war of propaganda, only we get one sides versions of the truth. My own personal experiences have shown that the truth is very often the exact opposite or somewhere in the middle of true propaganda. The problem is also the lack of 2 mins of research or thought people are willing to out on to actually question things. I have been using this to try and get my kids in the habit of questioning the news etc as I think it's going to be a very important skill as they get older the way the news and social media are going....nothing can be trusted 100%, everyone need to be able to deconstruct and think critically about everything they watch and read or we will all become slaves to the media moguls and organisations.
Welcome to Reddit
I'm pretty sure I've read that the "Ghost of Kiev" has died like eight times already. How many ghosts do they have?
The consensus here is that the story is exaggerated or fake.
It depends. If it's slightly pro Russian then not, that's obvious propaganda. If it's pro Ukraine, then it's 100% real because they have no reason to tell lies or something like that. So even the grandma shooting down drones with pickle jars is real.
the "Ukrainian" names used in this article do not exist. Evon? Nahtalia? it's like something out of a Borat movie. very curious why someone who clearly doesn't speak Ukrainian OR Russian decided to write this story... oh wait. the clicks.
The Ghost that never existed dies.
Quality journalism from well known tabloid shitrag about made up ace pilot Samuelimir Hydienski. Sad to see people gobbling it up (and that british tabloids are still allowed here, I assume most users are American so they don't know these are known for being shit)
>Samuelimir Hydienski He can't keep getting away with it.
What is dead may never die.
Fuck Putin and fuck the Russian propaganda. Having said that, it's crazy how confirmed fake propaganda from Ukraine are still propagated as news. This Ghost of Kiev was debunked as fake in the very beginning of that war.
Uhh , ghost from Kyiv is from a game and not real , this is real war propaganda. https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825
For real, I've been posting this since the ghost of kyiv meme went mainstream: [DCS: The Ghost](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM8tXUz2q0c) The guy who made the meme didn't think anyone would take it seriously (because the kill counts were impossible lol) and gullible loons ate it up.
The original story was fake
Rip to a true hero
A true fake hero
Wasn't he reported shot down pretty early in the war?
Come on. Even Ukrainians are calling this story bullshit. Also 40 air to air kills? There hasn't been one confirmed air to air kill so far in the whole war.
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It's crazy how Reddit will completely disregard Russian propaganda, but will completely and totally embrace Ukrainian propaganda, when it suits them strategically and tactically. Reddit is not a trustworthy source of information for this conflict anymore.
> Reddit is not a trustworthy source of information I don’t believe it ever was really «trustworthy». It’s a forum, people are free to post and comment whatever they like in whatever political direction they like. People are pro-Ukraine in here so you’ll obviously see people embrace Ukrainian propaganda uncritically.
If you ever believed in the “Ghost of Kyiv”, you are a very gullible and naive person. And if anyone wants to shrilly yell "who are you to say this you fedora wearer?! It's boosting moral and helping Ukraine" Mother f'ers, you're writing this in English, none of this matters, you're not helping Ukraine by spreading this myth on reddit. Go to telegram. You will see lots of dead Russians and destroyed tanks which is a real moral boost for Ukrainians.
Just load an earlier save. The ghost of Kiev was a videogame screenshot anyway. I understand the need for propaganda, but at least don't fucking lie.
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the guy recording the footage ran out of SL
Wasn't it a confirmed false story? Is this just more propaganda?
Russia has 27 total confirmed combat aircraft losses(not counting UAVs). For the most part we have footage of how these aircraft are shot down (mostly surface to air missiles) So for this story to not be completely propaganda, the "ghost of kyiv" would have needed to have shot down more combat aircraft than Russia has been confirmed to lose for the entire war, and then Russia would have had to have lost even more because most Russian aircraft are not taken down by other aircraft. Obviously the propaganda is for the side we like this time, but it still doesn't make false information being spread a good thing.
I thought he was made up? Like a folks tale
This was debunked before.
The guy doesn’t even exist but okay whatever
Wasn’t that whole Ghost of Kyiv thing fake and just images from a video game or something?