Rumors of his demise were wrong; he never actually existed
The Ghost of Kyiv
I’m really losing a lot of faith with any news coming out of Ukraine. I’m beginning to think that the government there is lying to us as much as our government, with the international media continuing their lying to us.
We reported days ago about the apparently confirmed death of the “Ghost of Kyiv”. Over the weekend, the Ukrainian Air Force said that’s not true. He’s still alive! Because he was never real. You see, he was an idea. Propaganda if you will.
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
From the NY Post;
The “Ghost of Kyiv” is a myth, Ukrainian officials admitted over the weekend.
After several news outlets last week identified the legendary, mysterious hero fighter pilot as a 29-year-old dad recently killed in battle with the Russians, military officials acknowledged Saturday that there was no such person.
“The ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend, whose character was created by Ukrainians!” Ukraine’s Air Force Command wrote on Facebook.
The reputed hero had been credited with taking out as many as 40 Russian aircraft until he was shot down March 13 while battling an “overwhelming” number of enemy forces, the Times of London had reported.
The Times identified the supposed Ukrainian war hero as Major Stepan Tarabalka.
But while Tarabalka was a distinguished war hero, he was not the “Ghost” — because there never was such a person, Ukraine said.
“Hero of Ukraine Stepan Tarabalka is NOT ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ and he did NOT shoot down 40 planes,” said the country’s Air Force Command.
Instead, the moniker belongs collectively to all of Ukraine’s hero fighter pilots, military officials said.
“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,” the command tweeted.
The Ukrainian government had previously been key in creating and perpetuating the myth of a single brave and particularly on-target fighter pilot.
“People call him the Ghost of Kyiv. And rightly so,” the government tweeted in February of the reputed mysterious figure, saying the pilot had “already become a nightmare for invading Russian aircraft.”
But many people questioned whether the “Ghost” was real, as a video purporting to be evidence of the fighter turned out to instead be from a video game.
Some noted that the reported folk hero and his MiG-29 Fulcrum would not have the ammunition capacity to carry out the attacks he was credited with.
Still, many people were keen to celebrate the enigmatic purported pilot.
“True or not, this is EXACTLY the kind of inspiring story the resistance needs right now,” a user said on Twitter.
Category: Ukraine
Hack Stone really hates it when people create someone out of whole cloth to create a persona, acting if the person is an actual human being, even go so fast as to set up fake Facebook and Linked In profiles. And Elaine Ricci agrees wholeheartedly.
I’ll confess to mixed feelings about this. Yes, the ghost was phony, not real, made up. The Ukraine military now spins it as the “spirit” of their Air Force. So, a big propaganda ploy. Ha Ha, we’ve been fooled.
But I can’t really blame the Ukrainians for the hoax. If I were in war, going at it hammer and tongs with an enemy that has me outmanned and outgunned, and wants me wiped off the face of the earth….. Yes, I’ll take every advantage, create any psychological edge, make the enemy believe there’s an unstoppable super-warrior who will appear out of nowhere, pop up at their 6, and blow them from the sky before disappearing into the mists of the night. Be afraid, Ivan. Be very afraid…….
Yes, I’d do the hoax too.
Yup, in a Noo Yawk minute…
I can see creating the legend. I can’t agree with the strategic decision to admit to it.
The only real ghost was the WW2 Cruiser CA 30 called the Galloping Ghost of the Java coast and found at the bottom of Davy Jones.
Back in my day, The La Salle (AGF-3) was The White Ghost of The Arabian Coast.
Also USS Enterprise CV-6 The Grey Ghost, Japan had claimed three times they sunk the carrier.
The Gray Ghost. John Singleton Mosby.
War is a racket and you need a good gimmick to keep the funds flowing, both sides are getting paid in the end and both sides want each other Dead! I do Pray for those in the middle…
With Wet Spark in charge, I wonder if these new mushrooms clouds will cause hallucinations.
Wolverines FJB
From World War II:
“Operation Mincement: The Man Who Never Was”
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/operation-mincemeat-the-man-who-never-was/
There’s a movie coming out soon about that op. It looks really good, but they’re working with some amazing source material.
The deception/co-intel game of the WWII Allies was off the charts. From the fake city built atop Boeing’s factory in Seattle to the Ghost Army and Patton’s paper command it was incredible.
The next movie they should make about WWII deception is the British magician who hid the Suez Canal.
Thank you for sharing about the upcoming movie…looking forward to seeing it!
Years ago, Magic magazine had an article about Jasper Maskelyne and later on down the line, it came out that a number of things he talked about never happened in North Africa. Allegedely, some of his secrets were classified till this day or years ago when I read the magazine article on Jasper but who knows if that was even true.
There’s already been a movie, “The Man Who Never Was” (1956). An excellent film.
Hack saw that on one of the retro movie channels a few weeks back.
War, truth, casualty. There’s a famous quote concerning those three that’s apropos here.
I’m shocked. But it leaves a tune in my head:
https://youtu.be/nOWjX4BpC24
Nice choice.
I had a different song bubble up from my memory.
I hope my re-writing falls within Fair Use.
After the turn of the century
In the clear blue skies over Ukraine, you see
Came a roar and a thunder men had never heard
Like the scream and the sound of a big war bird
Up in the sky, a man in a plane
The Ghost of Kyiv was his name
Forty men tried, and forty men died
Now they’re buried together on the countryside
(Chorus)
Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty of more
The Ghost of Kyiv was rollin’ up the score
Forty men died tryin’ to end that streak
Of the Ghost of Kyiv, of whom we speak
Proper credit belongs to:
writers – Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler
performers – The Royal Guardsmen
Of course they are lying. They report the best portions of the best news. They report nothing of the bad. That’s what everybody does in war. Lots of lying by omission, at minimum. Factor in that: 1) much of what we see is not governmental reporting at all; 2) the Ukrainians are about as Russian as you can get and not be Russian; and, 3) they were a part of the USSR longer than they were apart from the USSR (it’s in their blood too), and truths come out only because they forgot the lie. But the parade of videos of destroyed Russian equipment is real enough. As for me, I’m ambivalent at best about Ukraine except the fact that I wish them well in their efforts to kill Russian equipment. Of course the idea of Russia winning and getting saddled with the cost of rebuilding Ukraine could be oddly satisfying too….
Looks like the Ghost got Busted.