Article

2022-04-30 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

‘Ghost of Kyiv' killed in battle, identity revealed

From a posted comment this morning from our own Bugs McGurque
[NYP] The mysterious Ukrainian fighter pilot hailed as the "Ghost of Kyiv" after reportedly shooting down dozens of Russian aircraft has been killed in battle, an outlet said Friday.

The death of the much-celebrated enigmatic pilot was reported by The Times of London, which for the first time also publicly identified Major Stepan Tarabalka, a 29-year-old father of one, as the war hero.

Tarabalka was credited with taking out as many as 40 Russian aircraft until he was himself shot down March 13 while battling an "overwhelming" number of enemy forces, the UK paper said.

Tarabalka was posthumously awarded Ukraine’s top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine, according to his family.

His helmet and goggles — all that was seen of him when Ukrainian officials promoted his heroism — are now set to be auctioned in London, sources told the UK Times while confirming Tarabalka’s identity.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-30 05:09|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ] Top

#1 April 25, 2022

Zaur – Military serviceman of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov’s Regiment:

It’s possible that before I came here, I doubted [the stories] a little bit. But back then when we freed the first prisoners from the house, which was directly situated nearby the Azovstal’ [factory], when those prisoners and civilians came out from the basements, they hugged and kissed us. And told us that they are happy to see us. They cried with tears in their eyes! I then realized that I ended up exactly for… (holding back emotions) what was needed. And I don’t doubt one drop that it was the right idea.

I remember that moment, that fragment which laid into my head, when we stormed a house where there were a lot of civilians, and many of those very Azov fighters. (Azov is an extremist organization that is banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.) A mother with her child runs outside, and we’re looking through binoculars. We can’t storm, we can’t enter, we can’t do anything. And then they shoot the mother in the spine. The mother falls… and we scream to the child: “RUN!!! RUN!!!” from all sides. The child froze, not understanding what to do. On one hand he wants to run, but on the other he wants to help his mother. And then suddenly his head, get this, this child’s HEAD gets shot by this scum, this evil BEAST. In this very moment, we all just suddenly forgot what death means, we forgot that there could be snipers there, just as a Crowd, Broke In! We threw smoke grenades so that they couldn’t see us. We broke in and just tore up all of them [fighters] that were inside. Well we got in there, but not just got in there. In the sense that people sacrificed their lives. Many soldiers sacrificed their lives in that moment. But we entered and fulfilled our task.

We could care less about our lives when we saw the life of a child being gone. When we realized that these are not people, but are animals, nothing less than beasts, that can allow themselves to… to kill a child. These are not people. Therefore I think that I ended up here exactly for the right reason. And everything that I have done here, I have done for these people who live right here and are smiling and hugging us. They even take the coordinates of where I live, as well as of my other fellow combat comrades, they want to come to our homeland and thank us for the liberation.

https://youtu.be/NFTZbSU7X9I

Posted by Mickey M 2022-04-30 11:44|| 2022-04-30 11:44|| Front Page Top

#2 Beautifully written, Mickey M. So few who put on a uniform are also talented with a pen. How delightful that a simple Chechen soldier can express himself so lyrically.

Truly, it reminds me of photos we saw of Russian soldiers carrying out children after they broke the Beslan school siege in 2004.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-30 13:59|| 2022-04-30 13:59|| Front Page Top

#3 Seriously.

His helmet and goggles — all that was seen of him when Ukrainian officials promoted his heroism — are now set to be auctioned in London, sources told the UK Times while confirming Tarabalka’s identity.

Not that those are real identifiers; but wouldn't they have been vaporized?

Posted by swksvolFF 2022-04-30 15:45|| 2022-04-30 15:45|| Front Page Top

#4 Have heart!
Perhaps after taking three of the bastards with him, he ejected safely behind enemy lines, and links up with a rag tag bunch of teenagers who, after surviving and fighting, have had their fill and are on their way to the front so they can cross no-man's land into safety.

Posted by swksvolFF 2022-04-30 15:57|| 2022-04-30 15:57|| Front Page Top

#5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadyrovites.

Not always the good guys.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2022-04-30 16:05|| 2022-04-30 16:05|| Front Page Top

#6 But it was not Chechens under that name who held 1100 adults and children hostage at the Beslan school, Mullah Richard.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-30 16:19|| 2022-04-30 16:19|| Front Page Top

#7 I gagged, even knowing you were toying with this POS

Posted by Frank G 2022-04-30 17:29|| 2022-04-30 17:29|| Front Page Top

#8 We are more fragile and transient than the objects we manufacture. It's a sad philosophical observation. Take heart that there are likely more than one GHOST, and many of them live on!

Posted by Glatch Thud2820 2022-04-30 22:17|| 2022-04-30 22:17|| Front Page Top

#9 I gagged, even knowing you were toying with this POS

I, too, Frank G. The wonder is that Russia did not carpet bomb Chechnya from north to south at the time. Doubly a wonder that they unleashed the Chechens now — a hint of desperation from the beginning of this thing.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-30 23:11|| 2022-04-30 23:11|| Front Page Top

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