UKRAINE (Times Media Service) – It is a well known fact that the chaos of combat tends to turn out heroes, people who accomplish incredible feats through preparation, luck, or sheer bloody-minded determination. After the last shots are fired, we’ll hear some of the stories from the ground. As it is, however, one has already risen to the heights of the collective zeitgeist.
The Ghost of Kyiv has gained incredible amounts of fame, both on the Internet and with Ukrainian civilians and defenders, rivaling the fame and reputation of the Bloody Baron in just a few days. The pilot’s nickname, and his Mikoyan Mig-29 air superiority fighter (called “Fulcrum” by NATO standards), have become iconic, both of the pilot themselves and of the will to resist of the Ukrainian peoples.
During the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stories began circulating about a Ukrainian pilot who had made six of the seven combat aircraft kills by the Ukrainian air force. Within hours, the mystery pilot was named the Ghost of Kyiv, and a single image of their fighter climbing into the sky during a dogfight spread over the internet like wildfire. With the existence of the Ghost unconfirmed by any official sources, a common tagline accompanying these images was “I Want To Believe”, referencing Mulder’s own iconic poster from the X-files.
The pilot rapidly gained recognition from all sources, standing head and shoulders above the rest as a Ukrainian hero. Their reported feats made them the first Ace since the second World War, and all within a single day. Since that first day, they’ve been accredited with even more kills, making them an Ace at least twice over.
Many, however, were skeptical of the existence of the pilot. The other side of the “I Want To Believe” memes was the fact that the existence of the pilot, and the feats that they had accomplished, went mostly unconfirmed. Numerous videos surfaced of the Ghost supposedly dogfighting Russian combat vehicles, but nearly all but the first were found to be taken from simulations. Despite the lack of evidence or confirmation, however, large swathes of people wanted to believe that such a hero had risen to defend Ukraine in its darkest hour. The hope that such a pilot existed outweighed the lack of evidence for their existence.
This is not to say that the feats of the Ghost are impossible. The Mig-29 was specifically designed to be a relatively short-ranged air superiority fighter, using ground-based radar to find and eliminate targets over a relatively limited area. This is precisely what the Ghost would have been doing with their own fighter plane. Fuel and munitions, particularly the fact that so many kills over such a period of time would have exhausted the fighter’s supply of both, is explained by the pilot using airfields in Ukraine that weren’t hit, or those in other countries that were resupplying Ukrainian forces under the table. Certainly, such things were within the realm of possibility, and there’s little to indicate that such performance is impossible for a skilled pilot in a well-maintained aircraft.
The primary guess, however, was that the Ghost didn’t exist at all: the thinking was that the now-legendary pilot and their plane was an amalgamation of various other Ukrainian pilots. Indeed, even the video that began the Ghost’s rise to legendary status was only a single piece of evidence, a single pilot and a single Mig-29 fighting with one Russian aircraft. Without other evidence forthcoming, this theory gained traction within the online community, even though they held onto their belief and hope that one person could make such a huge difference.
Recently, however, the situation has changed. The Ghost of Kyiv has been accredited with more kills, and their existence has been directly confirmed by Ukrainian government officials and several media outlets. A picture of the pilot in full flight gear was posted to Twitter, sitting in the cockpit of his plane and giving a thumbs up to the camera. Reportedly, the Ghost has made fourteen kills, and continues to hunt Russian planes in the skies of Ukraine.
As of now, the opinion seems divided between those that believe that the Ghost of Kyiv exists, those who don’t, and those who are waiting for more evidence before declaring either way. Truthfully, as it is, the truth could fall in either direction, with evidence as it is. Really, we won’t know for sure until the conflict ends, and the chaotic information generated by it can be sifted through for truth.
If the Ghost of Kyiv does stalk the skies of Ukraine, then we can only wish them luck.
Alexander Murphy / Tech Writer (Times Media Service)
amurphy@timesmediaservice.com
