Ukrainian Soldier, Fmr Nursery School Teacher, Shoots Down Russian Missile

Gunner Hrabarchuk, a kindergarten teacher before she joined the Ukrainian army, shot down a Russian ballistic missile with a shoulder fired MANPAD anti-tank rocket, an almost impossible shot. 

She is the sort of Ukrainian Putin is up against. JL

Marni McFall reports in Newsweek:

Natalia Hrabarchuk, who was a nursery schoolteacher before the Russia-Ukraine war, was filmed destroying a Kh-101 long-range missile using an Igla MANPADS on Sunday morning during the latest of Russia's large-scale attacks. It was her first combat launch. "Hrabarchuk was a kindergarten teacher before she joined the Army. Since 2021, she has been an anti-aircraft gunner of the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Galicia-Volyn radio engineering brigade of the "West" air command

A video of a Ukrainian soldier shows her appearing to successfully shoot down a Russian cruise missile in her first combat launch.

Natalia Hrabarchuk, who was a nursery schoolteacher before the Russia-Ukraine war, was filmed destroying the Kh-101 long-range missile on Sunday morning during the latest of Russia's large-scale attacks, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Moscow launched a "massive, combined attack," of approximately 120 and 90 drones across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement released early on Sunday.

In the statement, Zelensky said that Moscow had used several types of missiles, including its hypersonic Zircon and Kinzhal missiles and the Irania-designed Shahed strike drones. Kyiv reportedly intercepted more than 140 of the incoming targets, Zelensky said.

Local residents walk past destroyed houses on November 16, 2024, in Pokrovsk, Ukraine. A video of a Ukrainian soldier shows her appearing to successfully shoot down a Russian cruise missile in her first combat launch....  Kostiantyn Liberov/Getty Images

The footage of Hrabarchuk, shared on X, formerly Twitter by the Ukrainian Air Force account said that: "On the morning of November 17, soldier Nataliia Hrabarchuk successfully shot down a russian cruise missile using an Igla MANPADS. It was her first combat launch and first successful hit!"

Newsweek could not independently verify the veracity of the video.

The video shows Hrabarchuk firing the Igla Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), which are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons which pose a threat to low-flying aircraft.

A further post on X, from Anton Gerashchenko, the former adviser to Ukraine's Internal Affairs Ministry, said that "Nataliia Hrabarchuk was a kindergarten teacher before she joined the Army. Since 2021, she is an anti-aircraft gunner of the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Galicia-Volyn radio engineering brigade of the "West" air command. Glory to Ukrainian Defenders!"