A Ukrainian Top Gun veteran who used the callsign “Grandfather” and commanded the infamous Ghost of Kyiv pilot division has died in combat.
Colonel Mykhailo Matyushenko was the head of the Air Force’s 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, which guarded the skies over the capital.
According to Ukrainian news site Pravda, the 61-year-old led a notorious group of fighter pilots collectively known as “The Ghost of Kyiv.”
At the start of the war, the ghost was thought to be related to a Ukrainian top gun that shot down as many as 40 Russian fighter jets. However, it later emerged that this was a hoax spread by Ukraine to boost morale, and Kyiv eventually revealed that the real spirits are those defending the country in the air.
Matyuschenko died in action over the Black Sea and will be buried for him today in his hometown of Bucha, the city of terror on the outskirts of Kyiv where Russia is accused of horrific war crimes.
The city’s mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, paid tribute to the aviator, saying in a post on Facebook, “Matyushenko passed on his invaluable experience to the younger generation of fighter pilots.
“And only now we can tell the true story: “The Ghosts of Kyiv” were directed by a pilot from Bucha.”
Colonel Mykhailo Matyushenko, who used the call sign “Grandfather” and commanded the infamous Ghost of Kyiv pilot division, has died in combat
At the start of the war, the Ghost was thought to be linked to a Ukrainian top gun (pictured) that shot down as many as 40 Russian fighter jets. However, it later emerged that this was a hoax spread by Ukraine to boost morale, and Kyiv eventually revealed that the real spirits are those defending the country in the air
Matyushenko served in a number of military units and also flew civilian aircraft and worked as a manager at a Ukrainian airline before Putin launched his barbaric invasion and he returned to duty.
Fedoruk said that the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade commanded by Matyushenko never suffered defeat in the air.
His comrades recalled an incident where “Grandfather” got into a dogfight on an Aero L-39 Albatross training jet.
He simulated an attack in a Ukrainian MiG-29 on two Russian Su-30s, whose pilots were fooled and retreated.
After dominating the skies over the capital, he relocated to strengthen Ukraine’s control of airspace over the southern and eastern fronts.
Major Stepan Tarabalka (pictured left and right) was claimed to be the real “ghost of Kyiv” before the army confessed
A search and rescue mission was carried out for the 61-year-old after his death in the Black Sea in June and his body was eventually recovered and returned home yesterday.
A day after Putin’s invasion, the story of the anonymous “Ghost of Kyiv” was widely circulated and became one of the symbols of Ukraine’s bold resistance to Russia.
The mythical pilot of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade is said to have shot down 40 Kremlin fighter jets defending the capital.
But Ukraine’s military finally conceded the icon was just a hoax to boost morale after Air Force Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29, was misidentified as a pilot.
The Air Force wrote at the time: “The Ghost of Kyiv is a superhero legend whose character was created by Ukrainians!”
“The information about the death of the Ghost of Kyiv is incorrect.
“The Ghost Of Kyiv is alive, embodying the collective spirit of the highly skilled Tactical Aviation Brigade pilots successfully defending Kyiv and the region.”
Mr. Tarabalka was a real pilot who died in combat on March 13. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Two days before his death, the Ukrainian General Staff shared this photo of the legendary fighter sitting in the cockpit. They captioned it, “Hello occupier, I come for your soul!”
Memes, photos and even footage from a flight simulator video game circulating on social media claimed to show the spirit of Kyiv during the fight.
A day later, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted a photo shared by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry three years earlier that “shows” the Ghost of Kyiv shot down six Russian pilots.
Two days later, Ukraine’s official Twitter account shared a video of the same image, along with footage of fighter jets in combat, set to pulsating music, with the caption: “People call it the Ghost of Kyiv.
“And rightly so – dominating the skies over our capital and country, this UAF ace has already become a nightmare for invading Russian planes.”
By the time news outlets misidentified the pilot as Tarabalka, reports had increased the Ghost’s toll to 40 aircraft.
Two days before his death, the Ukrainian General Staff shared a photo of the legendary fighter sitting in the cockpit.
They captioned it, “Hello occupier, I come for your soul!”
Tarabalka was born into a working-class family in the village of Korolivka in western Ukraine.