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according to the latest disclosure by us government officials, the united states is about to reach an agreement with ukraine to provide ukraine with long-range cruise missiles that can penetrate deep into russian territory, but due to technical issues, ukraine may have to wait for several months to receive these missiles.

the joint air-to-surface standoff missile (jassm) is expected to be included in washington's military aid to ukraine this fall, three sources said, but no final decision has been made yet.

the officials believe that delivering jassms to ukraine could significantly change the strategic dynamics of the conflict by putting more russian regions within range of powerful, precision-guided weapons, a key concern for the biden administration.

military analysts believe thatthe jassm long-range air-to-ground cruise missile is considered to be the only weapon other than nuclear weapons that can substantially affect the war situation.this missile, which combines long-range, stealth and high precision, could push the russian army's assembly areas and supply stations back hundreds of miles.

f-16 fighter jet mounted with jassm missile

military analysts believe that the jassm missile, which has stealth capabilities and a longer range than most similar missiles in ukraine's current inventory, will severely weaken russia's ability to sustain offensive operations and could provide ukraine with a strategic advantage. if launched from a location near ukraine's northern border with russia, the missile could hit military facilities as far away as voronezh and bryansk in russia; if launched near the southern front line, it could hit airports or naval facilities in crimea.

currently, among the fighter jets of the ukrainian air force, only the f-16 has the ability to launch jassm missiles, and each can carry two cruise missiles. a us official said that ukraine is working to equip its non-western fighter jets with the ability to launch jassm missiles. the old jassm missile has a range of about 230 miles (some sources say the range is 330 miles), and its design has a certain stealthiness and is difficult to be detected by radar. this missile can also fly close to the ground and can be programmed to take a detour to avoid air defense systems. in addition, there is a longer-range extended-range version of the jassm missile with a range of more than 500 miles.

zelensky will meet with biden in new york next week, which is also his last chance to get permission from biden to use us long-range weapons to strike russian territory. reports say that despite zelensky's repeated requests, the united states has no plans to relax restrictions in the near future.

the united states has previously been reluctant to provide weapons that could hit targets on russian soil, fearing it would escalate the conflict. other western countries have also been providing weapons, but they have placed restrictions on how and when they can be used inside russia, fearing such an attack could provoke retaliation, draw nato countries into war or spark a nuclear conflict.

but as ukrainian troops enter russia's kursk oblast on a large scale and the conflict gradually escalates, western countries are relaxing restrictions on the use of weapons by ukrainian troops.

source: cailianshe, global times