Ukraine admits that the "Ghost of Kiev" story was fake news.

 

A Ukrainian fighter jet pilot. New York Post/Facebook.

Ukraine has admitted that the viral "Ghost of Kiev" story was fake news. New York Post. The supposed pilot was credited with shooting down 40 Russian fighters before getting shot down on March 13th. Several news outlets identified the pilot as Major Stepan Tarabalka but Ukraine's Air Force Command admitted that the Ghost of Kiev was "created by Ukrainians". They say that the title Ghost of Kiev belongs to all Ukrainian fighter pilots. Ukraine tweeted out false information about the mythical pilot saying he was a danger to Russian fighter jets. Footage that claimed to be of the pilot fighting the Russians was actually taken from a video game. Many people were skeptical of the story from the start, citing the fact that the MIG-29 did not carry enough weapons to achieve five kills in one day without a tremendous amount of luck. 

My Comment:

People ask why I don't trust the Ukrainian government and this is a big reason why. I knew from the start that this story was not credible. From what I understand the Ukrainian Air Force was largely destroyed, along with their airfields and logistics support, in the early days of the war. I haven't heard anything about the Ukrainians being able to challenge the Russians in the air since the first couple of days. As far as I am aware the only Ukrainian aircraft still operating are their helicopter and drone fleets. 

The story was not helped by the very obvious and very fake accounts of the pilot that turned out to be video game footage. Some of this footage was convincing in the short term but was exposed as fake fairly quickly. It made little sense that there would be any footage of this in the first place as most air engagements happen at higher altitude which would be difficult to film at best. 

The Ukrainians and their supporters are saying the lie was justified because it likely improved morale. Even if that is true it doesn't change the fact that I don't trust obvious liars and this was a good case of an obvious lie. Though I obviously don't believe the Russians either when it comes to the war, it went a long way for me to move to the "pox on both their houses" camp. 

It was also infuriating that a ton of media outlets were parroting this propaganda, and that's what it is, uncritically. There were a ton of news articles all praising the so called "Ghost of Kiev" but very few that pointed out the obvious flaws in the story. Indeed, even the stories pointing out that the footage of the pilot was fake still said that the story could be real. None of it was. 

Recently the Department of Homeland Security created a Disinformation Governance  Board that is supposed to combat fake news about Ukraine. Would they have tried to censor this story? Of course not, even though it's a great example of the kind of thing they are supposed to fight. Why? Because the board is not about actually fighting disinformation, it's about silencing people that disagree.

This is what is so scary about the world today. I'm afraid that someday soon pointing out that stories like the Ghost of Kiev are obviously false will get you banned from polite life, social media or even imprisoned. Imagine knowing a story is false but being forced to parrot it anyways. That's the future we have if things don't change quickly...