By Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains and Carol E. Lee -
NBC News
The Joe Biden administration plans to send powerful M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in what would mark a reversal of position, three senior US officials told NBC News.
The decision comes after weeks in which the international community, including the United States, has been reluctant to send tanks to the front lines in Ukraine.
The decision could be announced this Wednesday.
The shipment is expected to consist of two dozen Abrams tanks, although officials who spoke to NBC News clarified that this is not a final decision and that it may change.
The tanks would not be immediately available to the Ukrainians.
It will be many months before these high-tech vehicles reach the ground, the officials said, and training Ukrainian troops to use the tanks is expected to take several months.
An American Abrams tank at the training camp in Nowa Deba, Poland, on September 21, 2022. Artur Widak / AP
the tanks would be purchased in a forthcoming package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides long-term financing to purchase weapons and equipment from private vendors.
The decision to supply tanks to Ukraine marks a change of position in the Biden Administration, which has resisted pressure from Germany to send these weapons to Ukraine.
[Why don't top US officials want to send tanks to Ukraine despite pressure from Germany?]
US officials insisted last Friday that Joe Biden was not willing to supply Ukraine with Abrams tanks because members of his Homeland Security team did not believe they would be of benefit to the Ukrainians, due to their difficulties in operation and high maintenance costs.
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It was not immediately clear what may have prompted the Biden administration to change its stance on sending the state-of-the-art tanks.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder declined to address the issue Tuesday at a briefing with reporters.
"When we have something to announce, we will," he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Biden Administration "was inclined to send" Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
