By Marni Rose McFall
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.
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.