Fact check: Ukraine's 'Ghost of Kyiv' fighter pilot

It is a story that gives courage and hope to the people of Ukraine in these dark days: The military has put up a fierce fight against the Russian invasion, and one very exceptional fighter pilot has become a folk hero. Known only as the "Ghost of Kyiv," he is said to have single-handedly brought down six Russian planes since the invasion began.

The story has mostly spread via social media, with videos and photos that appear to show the pilot in action posted by Kyiv residents, former President Petro Poroshenko and the Defense Ministry.

In one widely shared video, the Ghost of Kyiv chases down a Russian plane and then shoots it out of the sky. In Ukrainian, a voice says: "There's a plane. There's another one. It's about to crash."

This is a sequence from the video game Digital Combat Simulator World. "This footage is from DCS, but is nevertheless made out of respect for the 'Ghost of Kiev,'" the person who uploaded the video to YouTube on February 24 writes, using an alternate transliteration for Ukraine's capital. "If he is real, may God be with him; if he is fake, I pray for more like 'him.'"

A spokesman for Digital Combat Simulator World has confirmed to the Reuters news agency that the material is indeed from the game.

Old, altered photos

Poroshenko, the president from 2014 to 2019, posted a photo of a helmeted pilot in a cockpit on Twitter, identifying the person as the Ghost of Kyiv. "With such strong defenders," Poroshenko wrote, "Ukraine will definitely win!"

That photo was posted almost three years ago by the Defense Ministry. The pilot in the picture is doing a test flight with a new helmet. So, even if that is in fact the mysterious pilot, the photo is an old one.

The name Vladimir Abdonov is making the rounds, and there are also various pictures that purport to show him.

Some of the photos are clearly not genuine. The fact that the following image has been altered can for instance be shown by a so-called noise analysis with an image-processing program. When images are being altered, this often leaves visible traces in the noise. In this specific case, this can be seen at the pilot's head, the insignia on his arm and the Ukrainian flag in the background.

A reverse image search confirms the suspicion that it's a fake. The same photo appeared online years ago, but with a different head, a different badge on the arm and no flag in the background. If you look closely at the plane behind the pilot, you can see a gray maple leaf — a symbol used by the Royal Canadian Air Force. This was presumably missed when the picture was manipulated, and it gives away that most likely it's a picture from Canada.

The same tools can be used to show that a head has been swapped in this photo. The original image was distributed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It shows the fallen marine Vitaliy Skakun, who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Skakun is said to have blown up a bridge at the risk of his life to stop the advance of a Russian tank column.

How capable is Ukraine's air defense?

As of now, the existence of a Ukrainian fighter pilot who shot down six Russian planes cannot be confirmed.

On Thursday, the first day of the invasion, Ukraine's military announced that five Russian planes and one helicopter had been shot down. On the same day, Russia declared that it had disabled air defenses and air bases in Ukraine.

What is certain is that many of the videos and photos that claim to show the mysterious pilot are fakes.

The Defense Ministry weighed in on Twitter on Friday: "Dozens of experienced military pilots, from captain to general, previously released from the reserve, are returning to the Air Force. Who knows, maybe one of them the pilot of the MiG-29, which is so often seen by the people of Kyiv!"

The ministry has not responded to DW's questions about the identity of the pilot.