Legendary Ghost of Kyiv fighter pilot is KILLED in battle after Ukraine claims hero shot down 40 Russian war planes (thesun.co.uk)
GUARDIAN ANGEL’ Legendary Ghost of Kyiv fighter pilot is KILLED in battle after Ukraine claims hero shot down 40 Russian war planes
- 15:16, 29 Apr 2022
- Updated: 15:49, 29 Apr 2022
THE LEGENDARY Ghost of Kyiv fighter pilot has been killed in battle after Ukraine claimed he shot down 40 Russian warplanes.
The brave fighter became popular at the start of Putin's invasion when the Ukrainian military shared an image of him claiming he had shot down ten Russian jets.
4Major Stepan Tarabalka was killed on March 13
Credit: Telegram
4Ukraine had shared a clip of him claiming he shot down 10 Russian jets
4The Ghost of Kyiv was killed in battle
Credit: TwitterDad-of-one Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29, was killed on March 13, while fighting “overwhelming” enemy forces, the
Times reported.
Ukrainian sources confirmed the identity and his death adding that they expected his helmet and goggles to go for sale at an auction in London.
The 29-year-old from the village of Korolivka in western Ukraine has left behind his wife Olenia and their eight-year-old son Yarik.
He was posthumously awarded Ukraine’s top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine.
‘GUARDIAN ANGEL’ After his death, his parents gave an interview to NPR with his mum Nahtalia recalling how he used to watch the MiG jets when he was younger.
She said via a translator: “He would always watch the paratroopers in their air exercises.
"And he would run in their direction to try to see where they landed.
"Since early childhood, he always dreamed of the sky, about flying higher than the clouds.”
She added: “At any opportunity, he would fly close to our house, do a little aerobatic trick.
"And everyone in the village, every house and all the villages around would know that is Stepan flying."
The pilot's dad Evon, a construction worker, said the Ukrainian military would not give them any details of his son's death.
He said: “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.”
Back in March, the Ukrainian military shared a snap showing a person wearing an oxygen mask in the cockpit of an MiG-29 fighter jet, with the caption “Hello, occupier, I’m coming for your soul!”.
The so-called
Ghost of Kyiv became a symbol of resistance in the face of Vladimir Putin's invasion after Ukrainian government officials shared macho propaganda of the masked pilot appearing to shoot down enemy planes.
Footage allegedly showed the MiG-29 jet soaring through the air before destroying six Kremlin planes on the first day Putin launched his war.
The Ukrainian government’s official account posted the 38-second clip on their social media back on February 27, writing: “People call him the Ghost of Kyiv.
"And rightly so – this UAF ace dominates the skies over our capital and country, and has already become a nightmare for invading Russian aircrafts.”
The footage starts with a cartoon mock-up of the plane, before going into the debunked footage of a destroyed Russian jet.
Text then appears on the video, which states: “Ukraine probably got its first ace since World War II. This is the anonymous pilot of the MiG-29, nicknamed the
Ghost of Kyiv.
“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 of the occupiers. To become an ace pilot, you need to shoot down five planes. And the Ghost of Kyiv shot twice as many."
4The Ukrainian government claimed he shot down 40 Russian planes
Credit: Twitter