Viral videos had recently came out of Ukraine on the shooting down of about five to 6 Russian aircraft by an unidentified pilot Ukrainians had generally referred to as ghost of kyiv.
The video was first posted by a social media user Visegrad 24. It claimed that a Ukrainian pilot had shot down six Russian aircraft on Friday, making him the first fighter ace of the 21st century.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also confirmed the development with a tweet, posting thus: “In the photo – the MiG-29 pilot. The same “Ghost of Kiev”. It terrifies enemies and pride Ukrainians. He has 6 victories over Russian pilots! With such powerful defenders, Ukraine will definitely win!” He made the post with with a photo of the pilot in combat gear.
Many top Nigerian news platforms had reported that Ukraine had downed 6 Russian aircraft.
Also, many social media posts claimed the pilot was Vladmir Abdonov.
But Facts checks by some foreign media have revealed that the video in circulation was actually a scene from a game.
According to Fact Check website, Snopes, the video is a scene from Digital Combat Simulator (DCS), a free-to-play combat-simulation video game.
It then means that in the real world, there is nothing close to shooting down of Russian aircraft.