The 'ghost of Kyiv', a moniker given to the Ukrainian pilot of a MiG-29 credited with shooting down several dozens of Russian fighter jets, has been killed in action, British publication The Times has reported.
The paper has identified the pilot as 29-year-old Major Stepan Tarabalka. He was reportedly killed when the MiG-29 he was flying was shot down on 13 March while fighting “overwhelming” enemy forces.
In February, soon after Russia launched its special military operation, the Ukraine government tweeted out a video of the 'Ghost of Kyiv' and referred to him as an 'ace'. The term is given to a pilot who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft in combat. In the video, the face of the pilot isn't clear, with several in the comments section guessing his identity.
"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 Ukraine government's tweet read.
Who Was 'The Ghost of Kyiv'?
According to The Times, Major Tarabalka was born in the small village of Korolivka in western Ukraine to a working-class family. He wanted to be a pilot since he was a small child, as he used to see fighter jets zooming in the sky over his village.
Major Tarabalka was posthumously awarded Ukraine’s top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine. He is survived by his wife Olenia and eight-year-old son Yarik.
Major Tarabalka's parents said that they weren't given any information about his operation. “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,” his father Evon was quoted as saying by the media.
(With inputs from The Times and India Today)