The ‘ghost of Kyiv’ – the epithet given to the Ukrainian pilot of a MiG-29 credited with shooting down dozens of Russian fighter jets – has been killed in action, a report by British publication The Times has claimed. The Times (link behind paywall) has also identified the pilot as Major Stepan Tarabalka – a 29-year-old father of one posthumously awarded his country’s top military commendation, the Order of the Golden Star, and the title Hero of Ukraine.
Neither the Ukraine government nor its defence ministry has commented so far.
According to The Times (and other publications, including the New York Post), Major Tarabalka shot down 40 aircraft before being killed on March 13 while facing an ‘overwhelming number’ of enemy forces.
National Public Radio, a publicly-funded US media organisation, claimed to have interviewed his parents, Nahtalia and Evon Tarabalka, a few days later.
They said their son had ‘decided at a young age he wanted more than anything to be a fighter pilot’. “We know he was flying on a mission. And he completed the mission, his task. Then he didn’t return. That’s all the information we have, really,” the said (translated version per NPR).
In February – days after Russia launched its ‘special military op’ – the Ukraine government tweeted a video of the ‘ghost of Kyiv’ and hailed him as an ‘ace’ – the term given to a pilot who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft in combat.
“In the first 30 hours of the Russian invasion in February 2022 he shot down six Russian military aircraft. As of February 26 – 10 military planes… To become an ace pilot you need to shoot down five planes…”
The video consisted of dramatic footage of a fighter jet in action and photographs of others in flames, and finished with a close-up of a pilot in the cockpit of a plane.
The pilot is wearing a helmet and goggles, making identification impossible.
The video did contain a caveat; “… unknown who is piloting the Ukrainian MiG-29 and whether he is responsible for the ten downed Russian planes.” It concludes with praise for ‘…this hero with brass balls…’
An earlier video widely shared online – with the claim ‘Ukrainian pilot who is 6-0 shoots down a Russian Su-35 with his Mig-29…’ – was swiftly debunked. Experts said the video was created with a digital combat simulator as a homage.
Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is now in its third month.
What was envisioned by Russian president Vladimir Putin as a quick military op has been dragged out by the tenacity and ferocity of Ukrainian fighters, led from the front by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.