Trump alleges Russian theft of US missile designs during Obama era

Trump said that "some bad person gave Russia" the mentioned designs. However, he assured that the United States will still have its own "super hypersonic" missiles, which are "even one step better" than those whose plans were stolen by Russian officials.

Trump promised that work on creating them would begin "fairly shortly." He also added that future wars will be fought not on battlefields, but in the air, which is why drones are crucial.

This is not the first time Trump has accused Russia of stealing the hypersonic missile project. In 2020, he said that Moscow has a ""super duper" hypersonic missile whose speed is five times greater than that of a regular missile.

At that time, he also claimed that Russia received information about the development of this technology during the Obama administration. Trump repeated his accusations during one of the rallies in his 2023 election campaign.

The Kremlin responded that Russia "has its beautiful missile." – It's hard for me to say if our missile fits Mr. Trump's understanding as "super-super," but — it’s a good missile, which doesn’t yet have equivalents in the world. And it's not just one — noted the Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

Officially, Russia has developed several hypersonic missiles: the sea-based "Zircon," the air-launched "Kinzhal," and the land-based "Avangard" (these missiles have a hypersonic manoeuvrable glide vehicle). In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow "de facto" does not use these weapons, but "they do exist."

Trump announced the creation of an American hypersonic missile for the first time in May 2020. At that time, he claimed that it would be 17 times faster than the one considered the fastest in the world and would be able to attack targets at a distance of 1,600 kilometres.

This missile was tested in March of the same year. Meanwhile, in September 2023, "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that the work on hypersonic weapons in the US is still at an early stage, and ready missile models will not enter service for at least another ten years.

In the same interview, Trump said that "I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelensky decided that 'I want to fight.'"

– Zelensky was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful. Zelensky... shouldn’t have allowed this to happen either. He’s no angel – stated Trump during a conversation with Sean Hannity for Fox News.

Trump also blamed his predecessor for the outbreak of the war. According to him, Biden's statements provoked Russia to aggression. – Putin shouldn't have done it, too. I mean, I'm not blaming only what — Putin shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have done it, and it has to stop – he noted.