Ukrainian leaders have pleaded with the United States for several months to loosen the restrictions, though Biden had been unwilling to do so until this month — following Vice President Kamala Harris’s election loss to President-elect Donald Trump, whose victory raises additional questions of whether the incoming president will end aid to Ukraine entirely.

More hawkish Republicans on Capitol Hill both celebrated Biden’s decision but also excoriated him for not making it sooner.

“If initial press reports are true, I am encouraged at the prospect of allowing Ukraine to use long-range ATACM missiles supplied by the U.S. This does not excuse the administration’s deliberate slow-walking of items and assistance long authorized by Congress for use against Putin’s illegal aggression,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “This devastating conflict could have been ended on terms benefiting the U.S. and NATO if Mr. Biden had listened to the counsel of bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate.”

Wicker is set to become the chairman of the committee, with the GOP capturing the majority during this election cycle.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the outgoing chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also argued that “countless lives” would have been saved if the president made this decision sooner.

“If President Biden had made this decision sooner, countless lives could have been saved, and the Russian military would have been degraded,” McCaul explained. “This is too little, too late from a president whose legacy will be weakness and a lack of deterrence on the world stage.”

The Texas lawmaker told the Washington Examiner back in July that Biden should reverse his stance on prohibiting Ukraine from using U.S.-provided weapons to hit military targets deeper into Russia than the previous restrictions had allowed.

“Ukraine can’t properly defend itself if one hand is tied behind its back,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said. “Today’s news that the Biden administration is finally allowing Ukraine to use some U.S.-provided ATACMS to strike limited targets within Russian territory is long overdue.”

Their opinions were not universal within their party, which has long demonstrated itself to be the more hesitant party on continuing to aid Ukraine militarily as the country fends off Russia’s invasion.

Rep. Thomas Massey (R-KY) argued that Biden’s decision amounts to “an impeachable offense.”

“By authorizing long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, Biden is committing an unconstitutional Act of War that endangers the lives of all U.S. citizens. This is an impeachable offense, but the reality is he’s an emasculated puppet of a deep state,” the Kentucky lawmaker explained.

Russia accused the U.S. of escalating the conflict.

“If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kiev regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The U.S. has largely hesitated to approve some of Ukraine’s more significant requests out of concern over how Russia could retaliate, while Russian leaders have repeatedly accused the U.S. of doing just that. This pattern has developed over the course of the war, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks either looser rules on how the country uses weapons, or more sophisticated weapons, and Biden declines the request until changing his mind months later.

Other members in Trump’s orbit expressed skepticism as well.

“The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives. Gotta lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!!! Imbeciles!” Donald Trump Jr. said, while tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk called Russia’s initial response to the news “troubling.”

The older Trump has said he would end the war within a day, but the president-elect has not explained how he would do that or what Ukraine would have to concede to get Russia to end the war that began nearly three years ago.

“As President Trump has said on the campaign trail, he is the only person who can bring both sides together in order to negotiate peace and work towards ending the war and stopping the killing. Only official statements on this matter will come directly from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople,” Steven Cheung, Donald Trump’s communications director, told the Washington Examiner.

Cheung did not specify whether the president-elect would undo Biden’s decision.