THE so-called Ghost of Kiev, a legendary fighter pilot who supposedly downed 40 Russian warplanes, has turned out to be the invention of a Ukrainian morale-boosting campaign.

The startling admission was made on the Ukrainian air force’s Facebook page on Sunday, in a post claiming that the lone warrior never existed.

“We ask the Ukrainian community not to neglect the basic rules of information hygiene,” the message said, urging people to “check the sources of information, before spreading it.”