U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart Thursday as the U.S. prepares to send more weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off attacks from the Kremlin¡¯s war machine.

Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering in Kuala Lumpur, the U.S. State Department said.

The meeting comes as Russia has been pounding Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with record numbers of drones and missiles, leading U.S. President Donald Trump to express his mounting frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for keeping up attacks.

At a Cabinet meeting this week, Trump said he¡¯s looking ¡°very strongly¡± at a bill introduced in the Senate that would impose severe sanctions on Russia and on countries that purchase its oil, petroleum products, natural gas or uranium. He called it an ¡°optional bill.¡±

The comments are among the clearest signs that Trump is running out of patience with the Russian leader after previously expressing admiration for him and saying he could end the conflict swiftly after his reelection.

The U.S. arms headed for Ukraine include air-defense missiles, artillery shells and other hardware, a decision that swept aside an earlier pause by the Pentagon, which reflected Trump¡¯s frustration over the billions of dollars in aid sent to Kyiv since the war started in 2022.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it hoped dialogue with the Trump administration would continue despite the criticism and resumption of arms deliveries to Kyiv.

Putin¡¯s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow expects ¡°Trump and his team will continue their efforts to bring the Ukrainian settlement process to the political and diplomatic plane,¡± according to the Interfax news service.

In February, Rubio and Lavrov held talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first high-level meeting between the two countries in nearly three years.