Ghost of Kyiv Ukraine Video Is a Fake Made Using Digital Combat Simulator Game | Hacker News Reader

Ghost of Kyiv Ukraine Video Is a Fake Made Using Digital Combat Simulator Game

gamerant.com

38 points4tlkjljky4510 comments

Open articleView on HN

Obviously the alledged Ghost of Kyiv footage was an urban legend, but Ukraine did down multiple Russian fighter jets.

Incredible, really.

Also, note that the account of the poster consists of random characters and was created just and hour ago.

Who‘s information warfare is this?

> Ukraine did down multiple Russian fighter jets.

Well, the ukranians say they did. It's a weird war where both sides are using the same equipment, so when a plane gets downed or a tank gets blown up on video, it's still unclear whose plane or tank it was. I expect both sides just market whatever videos and photos they have as the other side's casualties.

One example that has been disturbing me was the video of that truck that was attacked by what looked like Ukranian civilians, who shot the driver and the occupants. Except, it turned out to be an Ukranian truck. So was it russian special forces in an Ukranian truck (seems a bit unlikely to me) or was it just a case of friendly fire? It seems clear that friendly fire has been happening, since all the more recent photographs of Ukranian soldiers have prominent (and quickly applied) yellow or blue tape on their uniforms and helmets.

If it's this video:

https://twitter.com/24UkraineNews/status/1497544977261465603...

The ukrainian twitter account that posted it outright says that it was the army executing alleged chechen soldiers ("dealing with them"). But that story does not even make sense since they are not in an army vehicule, and there is no way to confirm those were soldiers or russians. The only thing we know is who is shooting but not who is getting shot at. Weird video and weird for that account to gloat about a supposed war crime

Even more interesting, if you search that string of characters on DDG, the results are mostly Russian...

It's frustrating to have to doubt the ukrainian side here but there is absolutely 0 proof of any of those downed russian planes. There are tons of pictures of crashed planes in this war, whether it's those crashing on russian or ukrainian territory... except for those claimed by the ukrainian government. The official ukrainian sources are pumping out tons of disinfo, and I understand why! But it makes it hard to believe anything they say

You should doubt announcements from all sides at this stage. Wait a few days or weeks for some facts to emerge, with no expectation that they will be what you hope for. And for many things, we will never know.

Old proverb: "If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is."

"The Ghost of Kyiv" is 99.999% certain to be fiction. If he's so good, why isn't he named? Which squadron is he with? How old is he? How long has he been a pilot?

It’s interesting to see how easily manipulated people are when they get their news only on social media rather than using multiple sources.

One of the problems today is that multiple sources will readily report bogus news. If something is treading on Twitter or Facebook or tiktok, the news outlets have two options, jump in and share in the wave showing their readers what the readers would like to see, or risk losing out by doing rigorous fact checking. Feels like the majority chose the strategy that benefits their bottom line and their add spaces, rather than the one that benefits society.

> If something is treading on Twitter or Facebook or tiktok, the news outlets have two options, jump in and share in the wave showing their readers what the readers would like to see, or risk losing out by doing rigorous fact checking.

Anything that is reported on social media whether if it is 'trending' or not should be taken with a grain of salt and skepticism as something that is 'trending' could be part of another disinformation campaign on either side. Even the fact checkers can also be mislead and biased. It doesn't matter.

One should not totally believe what they see on the internet - especially social media. Always be skeptical with social media content.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com