61-year-old Colonel Matyusheko headed the legendary 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade.
In the sky over the Black Sea in a battle with Russian a Ukrainian pilot, Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Matyushenko with the call sign “Did” was killed by the occupiers. As Anatoly Fedoruk, the mayor of Buchi, where Colonel Matyushenko was a resident, reported on Facebook, he died on June 26, but his body was found only now.
61-year-old Matyushenko had the experience of flying on various military and civilian aircraft. Before the war, he worked as a manager of one of the Ukrainian airlines.
“Mykhailo Matyushenko – nicknamed “Grandfather” – passed on his invaluable work experience to the younger generation. And only now do we have the right to tell the truth: the “Ghost of Kyiv” was led by a pilot from Buchi,” Fedoruk wrote.
It is about the fact that Mykhailo Matyushenko led the legendary 40th tactical aviation brigade of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – a collective image it was its pilots that formed the basis of the legend about the “Ghost of Kyiv”.
“One of the nights, Grandpa jumped into a dogfight on an L-39, imitating a MiG-29 attack on a pair of Su-30s. And what do you think? They retreated!”, Fedoruk quotes Matyushenko's brothers and adds that he later decided to strengthen the southern and eastern fronts: “When Did found out about the irreversible losses of trained bomber crews, the decision was made. This is how a new operation began.”
It was this mission that was the last for Mykhailo Matyushenko – he did not return from the next flight, and they were looking for him for a long time.
Read also: The best pilot of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2019 died at the front
The hero's body was found and brought home to Bucha. The farewell ceremony will take place on Monday, October 3, at 2:00 p.m., on Heroes' Alley (at the cemetery at 1 Deputatska St.). of the tactical aviation brigade in Podil in Kyiv created a mural with the “Ghost of Kyiv”.. For their work, the artists took a photo of one of the pilots of the brigade, which was led by 61-year-old Mykhailo Matyushenko. The picture shows a “ghost” pilot in the cockpit of the famous MiG-29 aircraft.
See special topic: The head of the British Ministry of Defense assessed the probability of the Russian Federation using nuclear weapons in Ukraine< /strong> Wallace said that Putin is acting “irrationally”. RF troops began forced mobilization in the Melitopol district Men were detained for several days. At night, the enemy in Donetsk region shelled communities along the front line. There are dead and wounded Pavlo Kyrylenko reported how the night passed in Donetsk region. The occupiers who survived during the liberation of Liman fled to Shchastya – Gaidai The head of the OVA said that wounded soldiers of the Russian Federation are coming to medical facilities in Starobilsk every day. The occupiers shelled four districts of Kharkiv region. There are wounded Oleg Synegubov reported how the day passed in the Kharkiv region.
