US President Donald Trump mimicked the sound of Patriot missile interceptions with repeated "bing, bing, bing" noises as he praised American air defence capabilities, while also signalling that Washington has not yet agreed to let Ukraine manufacture the missile system.
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Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, Trump cited the interception of what he described as Iranian ballistic missiles over Jordan while responding to a question about whether the US would allow Ukraine to build Patriot missile interceptors under licence.
Trump also joked about using the correct number of 'bings' in his missile interception description, saying he wanted to avoid comparisons with former president Joe Biden. The term 'bing' has appeared in his previous posts and remarks as well.
"The other day you read that five missiles were shot. They were going 8,600 miles per hour ... and they were big missiles, and they were shot at Jordan, and our guys were there — bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Five missiles, and we shot all before they got close," Trump said.
He added, "Nobody else" has that sort of anti-ballistic missile defence capability.
Trump called the Patriot system "incredible" but suggested he was reluctant to allow Kyiv to manufacture it.
"We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them," he said.
