The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
US First Lady Melania Trump, right, watches as President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025 (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

President Donald Trump has accused Russia of stealing U.S. plans for a hypersonic missile during the administration of President Barack Obama, telling Fox News's Sean Hannity on Jan.23 that "some bad person gave them the design."

"Russia stole the design, they got it from us," Trump said, adding the U.S. is developing "super hypersonic missiles... which is even a step better."

Trump offered no evidence to back up his claim, but he previously raised the accusation in 2023, saying Russia had stolen plans for what he described as "super-duper missiles."

The U.S., China, India, and Russia are the only countries to have developed hypersonic missiles, of which Russia's Zircon is reported to be the fastest.

Moscow has previously said the Zircon hypersonic missile entered the arsenal of the Russian army in early 2023, claiming that it has a range of 600–1,500 kilometers, can travel at Mach 9, and has a warhead weighing about 300-400 kilograms.

Russia has used Zircon missiles — originally designed as an anti-ship missile — to attack Ukrainian cities, with the first recorded case being in February 2024.

The Kremlin has previously denied accusations it stole hypersonic missile technology, insisting they have developed their own.

Elsewhere, Trump said that he wanted to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Jan. 23.

Trump also said that he wanted to explore reductions in nuclear arms.

"I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended," Trump said via video link, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "It’s a carnage. And we really have to stop that war."

Later, speaking at the White House, Trump reiterated his readiness to meet Putin immediately.

"Every day we don’t meet, soldiers are being killed on the battlefield," he said.

Trump also claimed that President Volodymyr Zelensky had told him he was open to considering a deal to end the war.

Investigation: How Russia profits from arms exports to Saudi Arabia despite sanctions
Few agreements are shrouded in more secrecy than inter-government arms deals — especially when one of the parties is a global pariah leading a bloody war. But a recent massive leak of emails and documents has given us an unprecedented glimpse into a particularly secretive transaction. The leak rev…

News Feed

6:04 PM

Chornobyl isn’t safe anymore... again.

Chornobyl disaster occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986, in Soviet Ukraine. Nearly 39 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Russia’s brazen attack on the $2 billion New Safe Confinement (the sarcophagus enclosing the destroyed reactor) in February 2025 poses a new potential radioactive danger as engineers race to repair the damage. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post dives into why the restoration is not as simple as it may seem.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.