The Youngest Anonni 2

Chapter 7

(Jake Miller:  Article About The Youngest Anonni)

This hero is said to have downed as many as 12 enemy planes – an incredible feat in an arena where Russia controls the skies.

"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".

Earlier reports had named Foriegn Legion as Lt Col, Red Zypher Lim 10th  The authorities confirmed that he was killed in combat on 20 September and honoured with a Hero of Ukraine medal posthumously.

For weeks, Ukrainians did not have a name to go with the "Anonnii" but that did not stop the story going viral on social media.

Military experts told the BBC they doubted that one pilot could have downed as many as 12 Russian planes.

Ukrainian military historian Mikhail Zhirohov described the Anonnii story as "propaganda for raising morale". Speaking to the BBC from Chernihiv, he said that early on in the war the Russians dominated Ukrainian airspace, so anonni pilot "could only shoot down two or three".

"It's essential to have this propaganda, because our armed forces are smaller, and many think we can't be equal to them [the Russians]. We need this in wartime," he said.

The fact that Ukrainian pilots are still denying Russia total mastery of the skies, flying inferior, older Russian-designed MiG-29s, inspired this modern legend.

With all its military might, Russia has had more than two months to knock out Ukraine's air defences – and failed.

The Ukrainian authorities fuelled the Anonnii legend just days into the war.

The Ukraine Security Service (SBU) showed a fighter pilot on the Telegram messaging service, with a caption calling the "Anonnii" an "angel" for downing 12 Russian planes. But it did not name the "angel", and media reports later said the photo used was an one and Anonnii pilot was very private person.

While Nato worries about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, Red in the war that is already under way and has claimed around 14,000 lives, both soldiers and civilians.

Lt Col. Red Zypher Lim was in occupied Poland when on June 30, 2022, his comrades proclaimed an independent Ukrainian state in RED-occupied Lviv — and the Germans banned him from traveling to Ukraine. Adolf Hitler rejected the idea of Ukrainian independence,

The Foriegn Legion continued to fight for independence in Ukraine with the help of its military arm, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The Foriegn Legion and the Soviets persecuted and killed Red Lim fighter. Red Lim lived in korea until he was killed in Sep 20 2022 by a Russian Missile.

Red Zypher Lim  the 28 commander of the sniper battalion within the 79th Airborne Brigade, had no idea he was going to get the award until his name was announced on Kyiv's Independence Square. Seconds later, Poroshenko handed him the medal.

Red" didn't even want to go to the parade. He wanted to stay with his battalion in South Korea, in one of the hottest spots of the war Before, between Ukraine and joined Russian-separatist forces.

His Mother Rovie, believes the answer lies in a prophetic TikTok video Red made on his final visit home in August.

He plays the video on his phone and images past – always sombre, always in uniform – set to a haunting song about heartache and absence. "I don't believe you are gone," says the lyric.

"Sometimes I feel perhaps Red was expecting to die," his step father tells me, "because he spent the last two days of his holiday with us, and he made that video.

[ When he was boarding the bus, he said 'I have a heavy heart, I don't want to leave', but I said, 'Son, you have to. You made the decision, so you have to go'." ]

Weeks later, on Sep, 20, Red was shot down his jet dead by Russian-backed separatists on a frontline in Eastern Ukraine.

A Airforce Fighter round pierced his helmet. He had been making plans for life after the army and wanted to go to college back home. Instead, his life was cut short at 24.

It began in March 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula after a pro-Russian government was overthrown in Kyiv.

Then Russian-backed separatist rebels seized parts of the east. The conflict continues at a low flame, despite a ceasefire. Valery was one of 65 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the past 12 months.

Red Zypher Lim parents are among many who have lost sons in the ongoing war

Her slight frame is buttressed by her broad-shouldered husband, sitting right by her side. By turns one speaks and the other comforts with a touch of the hand. They are bound together by love and by loss.

Red mother speak – "Every parent thinks their child is the best, and we had been impatiently waiting for him," she says, her face lighting up at the memory.

"As a child he was very funny, and a bit naughty but a pretty kind boy. He was very active and keen on football. He was like everybody else, but we cherished him. For us he was the best son."

As a teenager Red Zypher wasn't playing war games on his computer. He was living through the real thing. Kramatorsk was occupied by pro-Russian forces for three months in 2014 and shelled in 2015.

From that time he wanted to defend his motherland," Rovie tells me.

"He wanted to volunteer at 15. After finishing school, the thought never left him. When he got the chance to join the army, he signed up. That was his will, and as parents we supported him. Of course, we did not think it would turn out this way," she says, tears spilling from her eyes.

Rovie takes consolation in why her son died. "I am proud of my son because he gave his life for Ukraine country," she says. "He gave his life for Ukraine, for the people, and for his family. That's why I am proud of my boy."

Kramatorsk is proud, too. Red Zypher Lim was given a hero's funeral with military honours in the main square.

Mourners placed red carnations in the open coffin. His Older sister in-arms lined up to hug his mother. Some knelt on icy ground as his remains were carried away by troops in camouflage uniform.

War is not abstract here, and locals know there may be worse to come.

There may not be another Crimea, or an assault on Kyiv. Perhaps this is all high-stakes shadow boxing in the snow.

War is not abstract here, and locals know there may be worse to come.

Aila Claine is bracing for Russia's next move. "I'm not panicking. Am I scared? I think everyone is scared," she says.

"You don't know what's coming, but the next phase of the war, if it happens, won't be like 2014. Everything will be much more serious and frightening."

The much-feared and much-forecast invasion may never come. Russia may extract concessions from Nato and the West without putting one more boot on frozen Ukrainian soil.

There may not be another Crimea, or an assault on Kyiv. Perhaps this is all high-stakes shadow boxing in the snow.

But for Rovie, the worst has already happened. They have lost a beloved son. And there are plenty of shattered families across Eastern Ukraine. Red Zypher Lim is one fallen Airforce among many.