The Ukrainian government has seized on unsubstantiated rumours that an unnamed MiG-29 fighter pilot dubbed the ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ has downed several Russian jets by sharing a macho propaganda video containing footage from a videogame.

Twitter is alight with clips that allegedly show a Ukrainian jet soaring through the skies over several cities and shooting down six Kremlin planes in dogfights on the first day of Vladimir Putin’s aggressive war against the former Soviet republic.

However, one video which got nearly 5million views and spawned the rumours has been thoroughly debunked as a clip from the 2008 videogame Digital Combat Simulator, with a Reuters Fact Check concluding: ‘A vertical video shared online does not show a Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down a Russian plane, but comes from the videogame DCS.’

Despite this, Kyiv is now openly promoting claims that the unnamed pilot exists, in an apparent bid to rally the besieged nation behind an urban hero and fuel support for Ukraine’s war effort.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10556785/Is-Ghost-Kyiv-REAL.html