Ukrainians on Monday paid tribute to the officer commanding the pilots of the 40th tactical aviation brigade, nicknamed “the ghosts of Kyiv”, who died a “hero” during a mission over the Black Sea.
Colonel Mykhaïlo Matiushenko died “heroically” on June 26 during an “air combat mission (…) protecting the country’s skies,” wrote on his Facebook page Anatoli Fedorouk, the mayor of Boutcha, where it was carried out. a farewell ceremony for the officer
The pilot, who died at the age of 60, was from this city on the outskirts of Kyiv, which became a symbol of the atrocities attributed to Russian forces during their occupation of the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital in March.
A pilot with “priceless experience”
Mykhailo Matyushenko, whose code name was “grandfather”, commanded the pilots of the 40th tactical air brigade, also known as “the ghosts of Kyiv”, to whom he passed on his “invaluable experience”, added the mayor.
About 300 people attended the ceremony at the Boutcha cemetery, around the ashes of the deceased. In the gray sky, a Ukrainian warplane flew over the scene several times.
Mykhailo Matyushenko “used to say about his participation in military operations: ‘I have dedicated my whole life to this and, even though I am already very old, I will go to fight, because I can do it better than anyone,'” his wife told the journalists on the sidelines of the ceremony.
“A Legend of Superheroes”
The expression “ghost of Kyiv” appeared at the beginning of the war, when social networks massively broadcast this nickname given to a mysterious Mig-29 pilot to praise his alleged exploits in the Ukrainian sky where he single-handedly shot down many Russian planes.
Some official Ukrainian sites had even broadcast aerial combat footage, which actually came from a video game, and of an anonymous pilot, still wearing a helmet with the black visor down, to illustrate his prowess.
“This ace…has become a nightmare for the invading Russian planes,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry wrote in a tweet on February 27, three days after the invasion began.
But the Ukrainian Air Force busted the myth on April 30, confessing on its Facebook page that “The Ghost of Kyiv is a superhero legend created by Ukrainians.”
“You have to see it as a collective representation of the pilots of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade. They are the ones who protect the skies of the capital and can suddenly appear where the enemy does not expect them,” he explained at the time. .
Source: BFM TV
