THIS is the jaw-dropping moment a Ukrainian nursery teacher blows up a Russian cruise missile with her first ever shot.
Incredible footage shows the brave woman take out what’s believed to be one of Vladimir Putin’s most powerful missiles – before falling to her knees in disbelief.
Air Force/XIncredible footage shows the teacher debut her first shot[/caption]
Air Force/XShe falls to her knees in disbelief[/caption]
FacebookNataliia Hrabarchuk swapped her nursery classroom for the military[/caption]
Nataliia Hrabarchuk swapped her nursery classroom for the military to support her country against Russia‘s bloody war against Ukraine.
Unbelievable footage shows the teacher in army uniform strategically pointing a shoulder-launching missile.
After gauging a stable stance, Hrabarchuk launches the massive weapon which causes such a noise the person recording jolts the camera.
As she shoots the beast weapon, sparks fly out the end of the device as a rapid trail of smoke darts across the sky.
After the shot, the nursery teacher collapses to her knees and puts her hands to her face in a position of shock and awe.
One of her comrades exclaims: “[Nataliia] you got it!”
She is reported to have hit a whopping £10 million Kh-101, which is a long-range, air-launched cruise missile.
The Russian weapon has a range of up to a terrifying 3,400 miles and a speed of as much as 620mph.
Reports claim it was the teacher’s debut strike, using an Igla portable, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile system.
Before this, the teacher had completed a five month training course.
Hrabarchuk said: “When the enemy missile was in front of me, I threw away all emotions and excitement.
“I had made hundreds of training launches on simulators and then – the first live one and it hit the target.”
The hero also explained that the defence system weighs an unbelievable 18kg and holds “a lot of responsibility”.
She also confessed that afterwards she “let [her] emotions out a bit”.
Hrabarchuk added: “Our mobile firing team includes female soldiers.
“We make every effort to achieve results and give our best.”
Since giving up her teaching career, she has been an anti-aircraft gunner with the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Halychyna and Volhynia Radio Technical Brigade of the Western Air Command.
Around 210 missiles and drones were fired at Ukraine overnight on Sunday in what Kyiv officials described as “one of the largest” onslaughts of the war so far.
APLive fire testing at White Sands Missile Range in 2021[/caption]
The brave woman take out what’s believed to be one of Vladimir Putin’s most powerful missiles
Ukraine’s air force say it had shot down a whopping 102 missiles, including close to every type Russia has in its inventory.
The strikes supposedly at energy infrastructure hit civilians, tragically causing the deaths of at least 10 people.
The Kh-101 is typically launched from a Russian Tu-95MS Bear or Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber.
President Joe Biden has authorised the use of American long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, insiders have said.
The decision comes after Vladimir Putin launched “one of the largest” air attacks of the Ukraine war so far with 120 missiles and 90 drones.
And a map reveals key targets deep inside Russian territory that could now be blasted by Ukraine using long-range US missiles.
Joe Biden’s bombshell decision to lift the missile ban marks a major turning point in the conflict – with the Kremlin warning the use of such missiles would be deemed a declaration of war.
EPAUkrainian rescuers working at the site of an air strike in Odesa, southwestern Ukraine[/caption]
EPARussian forces launched a ‘massive combined attack that targeted all regions of Ukraine’ overnight on Sunday[/caption]
ReutersA view shows a residential building, which was damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine[/caption]