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UKRAINE is closing in on securing long-range missiles from the US that could strike dangerously close to Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would be sweating on Kyiv claiming the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) as the Biden administration draws closer to an agreement.
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Made by American aerospace and defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, the missiles promise “long-range, precision engagement capabilities for air-ground missions,” the company’s website says.
A bumper new weapons package is expected to be announced sometime in autumn that includes the highly sought-after JASSMs.
Being armed with longer-range weapons could help Ukraine push Russian supply depots back hundreds of miles.
Russia currently has ammo facilities and airbases relatively close to Ukraine’s border, allowing them keep well-stocked in their invasion.
Read more on Russia-Ukraine
Launched from Ukraine, JASSMs would have range to strike at least 30 airbases inside Russia, Reuters reports.
Perhaps even more concerning for Vlad is how it could bring Ukraine within striking distance of areas closer to Russian capital Moscow.
The JASSM can be carried in US-made aircraft, including the F-16 fighter jets – which Ukraine has recently been equipped with.
But there are whispers the US could attempt to make them compatible with the Soviet-era jets more widely used by Kyiv forces.
Older-model JASSMs have a range of about 230 miles but the new and improved variety can fly some 500 miles.
It’s not clear which version the US is considering.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to call for the US to lift restrictions to allow his troops to send American missiles into Russian territory.
Gifting the JASSMs could be a sign that Zelensky’s long-made request may finally be ticked off – providing long-range missiles without allowing them to be launched long-range would be useless in effect, a source told Reuters.
Each JASSM has a 100-pound warhead and GPS signals with navigation systems.
They promise accuracy of striking within three metres of the chosen target.
Any supply of JASSMs is expected to take several months because Washington would need to figure out how to supply them.
Speaking at a meeting in Germany on Friday, Zelensky again pleaded for a loosening of restrictions on the use of Western weapons.
He said: “We hear that your long-range policy has not changed … a shortage of missiles and co-operation.
“And this applies even to our territory, which is occupied by Russia, including Crimea.
“We think it is wrong that there are such steps.
“We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace.”
PEACE TALKS FLOATED
Vlad during the week said he was already open to peace talks.
Speaking at the 2024 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in far southeast Russia, he said: “Are we ready to negotiate with them?
“We have never refused to do so, but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of those documents that were agreed and actually initialled in Istanbul.”
A preliminary agreement between Russia and Ukraine was reached in the Turkish city not long after the war began but never implemented.
The terms of the deal were never made public.
Ageing Putin, 71, said China, India and Brazil could act as mediators in potential new peace talks.
He later added: “If there is a desire of Ukraine to carry on with the negotiations, I can do that.”
Putin has previously floated peace talks – but has always insisted that Russia would take, or get to keep, occupied Ukrainian territory.
Is Putin’s ‘peace talks’ offer sincere?
By Alan Mendoza, Founder and the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society
Vladimir Putin is not known for making offers out of the goodness of his heart.
So his sudden interest in peace talks to end the Ukraine War must be on account of something other than a genuine desire to end the bloodshed he initiated in 2022 by invading Ukraine.
The reason is likely obvious: it has finally dawned on Putin that a war that was supposed to be over in days has no easy end.
Ukraine’s surprise August invasion of Russia’s Kursk province will have played a factor in his thinking.
Putin has long posed as the champion of Russian security. Yet he has been unable to reverse a humiliating seizure of Russian land.
With the prospect of Ukraine soon being able to use long-range missiles to target Russian missile and air bases, the immediate future looks challenging for Putin.
His raising of peace talks are an acknowledgement that Ukrainian successes are unnerving him.
But before we get too excited, Putin has not revealed any of the terms he is offering.
And if they involve punishing Ukraine by forcing it to give up territory, then they will be unacceptable.
So the onus must now be on Putin outlining what he is proposing, without allowing him to stall for time, or to disrupt Ukraine’s advances.
It is military pressure on Putin that has got us to this point.
It will need to continue for us to be certain that he is really considering ending this terrible war of his own making.
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