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Watch a former kindergarten teacher shoot down a Russian missile

00:49 - Source: CNN

A former kindergarten teacher has been honored with an award by Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov for her role in shooting down a Russian missile during her first combat launch.

Natalia Grabarchuk, a Ukrainian soldier who completed a five-month training course before the mission, accurately launched the “Igla” anti-missile device to shoot down a Russian cruise missile that was headed towards a critical infrastructure facility in Ukraine’s Rivne region.

The mission, captured on video, was shared by the Ukrainian Air Forces on Sunday.

In the video, Grabarchuk is seen operating the anti-aircraft missile, resting the device on her shoulder before firing it. A plume of smoke can be seen, followed by the sound of a large explosion. Natalia falls to her knees as she is congratulated by her colleagues.

“Well done!” her colleagues say in the video. “You hit it, Natalia, you hit it!”

Reacting to the successful mission on Sunday, Grabarchuk said she was “very glad” that she had managed to hit the Russian missile, stating that she “threw away all emotions and excitement” during the mission. “After the combat work,” she said, “I let my emotions run wild.”

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Umerov called the former kindergarten teacher and her colleagues Olga Makisimenko and Valentina Steblevts, “incredible defenders” and “a symbol of professionalism and courage,” showing pictures of the soldiers being presented with their awards.

Thanking the soldiers for their service, the post called the mission and corresponding video “an inspiring moment for all of us.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to achieve “any strategic objective” in more than 1,000 days of war in Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

“The largest military in Europe invaded its neighbor, who had a much smaller inventory, much less capability, and 1,000 days later, they’ve yet to be successful,” Austin told reporters in Laos.

“This war has gone on for 1,000 days, and Putin has failed in every case to achieve any sort of strategic objective,” he said.

Ukraine has demonstrated to the world that “it is possible for a smaller, less capable country to defend its sovereign territory, if its people are committed and if it has some of the resources that it needs to do so,” he said.

Some context: While Russia certainly failed to achieve Putin’s initial goal of taking Ukraine within a few days days, the Russian campaign has reached some of its objectives. Around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory is currently under Russian control according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia has more weapons, ammunition and people and Putin’s strategy appears to be slowly grinding Ukraine down by outgunning and outspending it while wearing down Kyiv’s western allies.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting.

The Biden administration’s decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine for the first time was motivated by Russia’s changing tactics on the frontlines, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“Because the Russians have been so unsuccessful in the way that they have been fighting, they’ve kind of changed their tactics a bit,” Austin told reporters in Laos.

“They don’t lead with their mechanized forces anymore. They lead with dismounted forces who are able to close and do things to kind of pave the way for mechanized forces,” he explained.

CNN previously reported the US intends for Kyiv to use the anti-personnel mines in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have made slow and steady progress.

Austin said Ukraine’s military needs “things that can help slow down that effort.”

The US has provided Ukraine with anti-tank mines since the start of the war, but the decision to provide anti-personnel mines represents another major policy change from the outgoing Biden administration.

“The land mines that we would look to provide them with are land mines that are not persistent. We can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate, and that makes it far safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,” Austin said.

He stressed that Ukraine must be responsible in “recording where they’re putting these mines.”

The Biden administration’s decision to arm both Ukraine and Israel has put strain on the United States’ stockpiles of weapons, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conceded Wednesday.

However, he said that providing weapons to the US’ allies prompts Washington to replenish its own supplies and creates jobs.

“Every time we do a presidential drawdown, we take things that we have in our stocks, provide them to the country in need – and there’s been significant need – and then we replace those items with new items and better items,” he said.

“Those munitions, those weapons are built in the United States of America – that creates jobs. It puts us in a better position militarily,” he added, admitting, “It takes a little time – we recognize that.”

Austin said the Biden administration had been working with industry to “expand capacity in our industrial base.”

The US Embassy here in Kyiv has not fully closed since the invasion in February 2022, the warning issued citing the risk of an aerial assault.

The closure is a stark reflection of how this war is escalating. For over a thousand days, it’s been a proxy fight between Washington and Moscow in Ukraine. But since the Biden administration decided to allow Ukraine to use its missiles to strike inside Russia, it increasingly threatens to drag in the United States and NATO, in full.

The Kremlin and its messengers have long framed this war as Moscow against all of NATO — partially as an excuse for the appalling progress Russia has made, compared to the weeks they initially hoped it they would need to take Kyiv. But the rhetoric aside, it is unlikely Russians will hit the US Embassy directly — that would be a severe escalation in the closing months of a White House soon to be replaced by a more sympathetic President-elect Donald Trump.

Instead, it’s important to note that allied NATO embassies have also limited their services. Perhaps they fear also being targeted. Moscow might inflict damage on a target where Westerners are known to congregate — a major hotel or district in the city.

In truth, Kyiv has endured over two months of intense and regular drone and missile attacks, on a larger scale than before. It is possible that today and tonight, residents might take the regular sirens seriously — there have already been sirens for 45-minute and two-and-a-half-hours periods so far today.

Yet American information has so far in this war proven quite reliable, which makes their sudden closure of a diplomatic facility a sign escalation continues.

The Greek, Italian and Spanish embassies in Kyiv have closed to the public today, after air raid sirens were activated in the Ukrainian capital several times overnight.

The Greek Embassy in Kyiv told CNN it will be closed on Wednesday for “security reasons.”

The Spanish Embassy in Kyiv will also be closed today after receiving information about a possible major airstrike on the city, Spanish outlet EFE reported. CNN has asked the Spanish embassy for comment.

Italy’s embassy also closed to the public due to a “possible high-intensity airstrike,” it wrote on its website, though it remains operational.

The decision by Greece, Italy and Spain – three NATO members – to close their embassies follows the US warning overnight that it had received information about a possible large-scale Russian air attack on Kyiv.

The US embassy told its employees to shelter in place while advising American citizens to be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced, according to an advisory on its website.

The sound of drones and activated air defenses could be heard across the capital overnight, including the city center, according to a CNN team in Kyiv.

The hotline set up to defuse crises between the Kremlin and the White House is not currently in use, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media TASS.

“We have between the two presidents, Russia and the US, a special secure line for communication,” Peskov said Wednesday, according to TASS.

Asked whether this line was still in use – even for emergencies – Peskov said: “No.”

President Vladimir Putin’s last phone call with his US counterpart Joe Biden was on February 12, 2022, according to the Kremlin – just days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Some background: The hotline between was established in 1963 – a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis underscored the importance of prompt, direct communications between Russian and American presidents.

The Kremlin comment comes a day after Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold under which it would consider using nuclear weapons. With the new doctrine, Moscow will consider aggression from any non-nuclear state – but with the participation of a nuclear country – a joint attack on Russia.

The change came after the Biden administration gave Ukraine permission to fire longer-range US-made missiles at targets deep in Russia. Kyiv appeared to waste little time making use of its newly-granted powers, and on Tuesday fired the missiles, known as ATACMS, at the Bryansk region.

China doesn’t want to see a spillover or escalation of the war in Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Tuesday, days after Ukraine received a US green light to launch American-made long-range missiles against targets inside Russia.

In a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Xi said China’s position on the Ukraine war is consistent and hopes that the conflict will be eased.

“Neither spillover of the crisis nor escalation of the fighting is what China wants to see. Instead, China will continue to play a constructive role in its own way for the ceasefire and end of the conflict,” Xi told Macron on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry.

The comments echoed the Chinese leader’s remarks at the G20 summit on Monday, when he called for the attending leaders to help “cool the Ukraine crisis and seek a political solution.”

When asked about reports that the US, the UK and France had authorised the use of long-range weapons by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated China’s position on the war.

“Realizing an early ceasefire and striving for political settlement serves the interest of all sides, and the biggest imperative is to promote deescalation as soon as possible,” Lin Jian said Monday.

“China always encourages and supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis, and stands ready to continue to play a constructive role in its own way for the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Lin said.

US President Joe Biden’s authorization for Kyiv to use Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) weapons provided by the US to strike inside Russia came as a relief — albeit too late, according to a former adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister.

“We lost too much time,” said Alexander Khara, a fellow at Ukraine’s Centre for Defence Strategies, a think tank.

Khara told CNN’s Lynda Kinkade that Ukrainians were worried that US President-elect Donald Trump would use Washington’s leverage over Ukraine “to enforce so-called peace” on Kyiv.

Throughout his campaign, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, cast strong doubts on the continued US commitment to Kyiv as the war drags on more than two and half years after Russian forces invaded. Trump has also made comments that suggest the US could pressure Ukraine into an uneasy truce with Russia.

If Ukraine loses its backing from the US, “I think we will lose,” Khara said.

The coming winter months will bring a lot of hardship for Ukrainian civilians, especially to those who are displaced, said Dr. Hasan Kadhim, field coordinator with the International Rescue Committee.

Russia’s drone and rocket attacks have disrupted electricity, energy, heating and water supplies, and the full scale war is about to enter its third winter. Temperatures can drop to below -20 degrees Celsius.

“Especially now with the decrease in temperature … Winter is coming and making people’s life very heavy now,” Kadhim told CNN’s Lynda Kinkade from Odesa in Ukraine.

“People cannot work, cannot do anything without power,” Kadhim said, adding that 1,000 days of Russia’s war has taken its toll on Ukrainian civilians.

“And people now have lost or (used up) their savings so they cannot even cope … or be better prepared for the winter.”

Close to 11,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, with some having already participated in battles against Ukraine, two South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday, citing a briefing from Seoul’s spy agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that the number of North Korean troops available to be deployed to Russia “may grow to 100,000.”

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said it was still assessing the number of North Korean troop casualties and details of their operations, according to lawmakers Lee Seong-kweun and Park Sun-won, who were briefed by the NIS.

More weapons sent: Pyongyang’s troops have been receiving tactical and drone response training from Russia’s airborne units and marines, the NIS said, adding that North Korea had also shipped more war supplies to Russia. These include long-range artillery, including self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers, in addition to the shells and missiles Pyongyang has already provided, the spy agency said.

North Korea has likely deployed extra personnel to maintain the weapons and provide extra training for Russian troops who are unfamiliar with some of the new weaponry, the NIS said.

The United States has not adjusted its nuclear posture in response to Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday.

In the wake of a change in policy to allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory with US-provided long-range missiles, Moscow updated its doctrine Tuesday and will now consider aggression from any non-nuclear state – but with the participation of a nuclear country – a joint attack on Russia.

“Despite what Russia says, neither the United States nor NATO pose any threat to Russia,” Miller said, adding that the US was unsurprised by Moscow’s nuclear saber rattling.

“So we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture, but we will continue to call on Russia to stop bellicose and irresponsible rhetoric,” he added.

The US is “not surprised” that Russia updated their nuclear doctrine to consider aggression from any non-nuclear state with the participation of a nuclear country a joint attack on Moscow, as Russia had been “signaling” that they would do so “over the last several weeks,” a Defense Department spokesperson said.

“It’s something that we’re going to continue to monitor, but we don’t have any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon within Ukraine,” said Singh.

Singh also said the US does not currently “see any changes that need to be made” to the US nuclear posture.

The Biden administration has approved sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time in another major policy shift, according to two US officials. The decision comes just days after the US gave Ukraine permission to fire long-range US missiles at targets in Russia, a shift that only occurred after months of lobbying from Kyiv.

Since the early days of the war, the US has provided Ukraine with anti-tank mines to blunt Russia’s numerical superiority in armored vehicles. But until now, the Biden administration had not provided Ukraine with anti-personnel mines over concerns about the enduring danger they may pose. Human rights groups have long criticized the use of anti-personnel mines because they can kill indiscriminately and can remain armed for years after the conflict in which they were initially used has ended.

The US intends for Kyiv to use the anti-personnel mines in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops have made slow and steady progress against Ukrainian defensive lines. The grinding battle has cost Moscow tremendously, with Ukraine claiming Russia suffered its highest number of casualties this week. But Russia’s unrelenting pressure, coupled with shortages in Ukrainian manpower and ammunition, has allowed the Russian military to gradually seize more territory.

The US expects Ukraine to use these anti-personnel mines to bolster defensive lines within sovereign Ukrainian territory, not as an offensive capability in Russia. The US has also sought assurances that Ukraine will try to limit the risk to civilians from the mines.

Read the full story.

A decision by the United States to allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles deeper inside Russian territory has complicated a potential Western diplomatic thaw with Russia as dozens of world leaders gather this week.

Sunday’s decision was viewed by many Western leaders as a way to position Ukraine for success ahead of a change in American leadership, with incoming President-elect Donald Trump skeptical of continued US assistance.

But it also complicated the diplomatic dance leaders attending G20 summits must partake in as they navigate the complex geopolitical dynamics of the bloc. Amid the change in strategy — which Joe Biden had deliberated for months — the US president and his team steered clear of Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign affairs minister, on the ground in Rio. Lavrov is at the summit in place of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And Biden and Lavrov’s fluid schedules meant that they were not photographed together with other world leaders.

Further, the pending Trump presidency shadowed nearly every discussion of the Ukraine conflict at the summit. Leaders at the summit are acutely aware of Trump’s views toward the war, but are less certain of how that will manifest in policy once he takes office.

It’s not clear, for example, whether Trump would uphold Biden’s decision on allowing Ukraine the long-range capability, a step that NATO leaders had been encouraging for months. Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, questioned the decision in an interview Monday.

Read the full story.