US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his counterpart Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of his disappointment and frustration" at the lack of progress in bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end, but said his counterpart had floated a “new concept” during a meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 10.

"I echoed what the president (Donald Trump) said, both a disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress," Rubio told reporters after the meeting, his first trip to Asia since taking office, AFP reports.

Lavrov and Rubio reaffirmed their mutual commitment to finding peaceful solutions to conflict scenarios, restoring Russian-US economic and humanitarian cooperation and maintaining contacts between the two countries.

"It was a frank conversation. It was an important one," Rubio said of his 50-minute talks with the Russian foreign minister, complaining to Lavrov "that there's not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict."

Rubio said Lavrov suggested "a new or a different approach,” without going into details.

"I think it's a new and a different approach," Rubio told reporters after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov AP reports. "I wouldn´t characterise it as something that guarantees a peace, but it's a concept that, you know, that I´ll take back to the president."

"We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude," Rubio added.

Among other specifics discussed was the possibility of resuming direct flights between their two countries and resuming normal diplomatic relations, which were de facto completely halted under the Biden administration.

Russia´s Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the meeting that "substantive and frank exchange of views" had taken place on issues including Ukraine, Iran, Syria and other global problems.

"Both countries reaffirmed their mutual commitment to finding peaceful solutions to conflicts, restoring Russian-American economic and humanitarian cooperation and unimpeded contact between the societies of the two countries, something which could be facilitated by resuming direct air traffic," the statement said as cited by AP. "The importance of further work to normalise bilateral diplomatic relations was also emphasised."

The Kremlin has maintained cordial relations with the Trump administration despite the stalled ceasefire talks, as Russian President Vladimir Putin's best chance for having sanctions lifted in his lifetime is to use Trump to broker a deal with Bankova (Ukraine’s equivalent of the Kremlin).

Lavrov stuck to the script, stressing the “constructive and mutually respectful dialogue” between Moscow and Washington on an “ever-expanding range of issues of mutual interest” and said the dialog will continue after the meeting.

This was the second direct meeting between the two foreign ministers that have been leading the efforts to strike a ceasefire deal since the process kicked off in Riyadh on February 18, where they met for the first time. Since then, they have also talked several times by phone to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The meeting comes as Trump’s impatience with Putin is clearly growing. Earlier this week he made his most pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia comments since he took office in January. Following his recent call with Putin, Trump said that he had made “no progress” and that he was “not happy” with Putin.

"Putin gives us a lot of shit. If you want to know the truth, he's always very nice, but it turns out that's irrelevant," the president said this week.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 9 the Kremlin was “relaxed about Trump's criticism” and would keep trying to fix "broken" relations with Washington.

This week Trump reversed a Pentagon decision to halt all new weapons deliveries, and on July 8 Axios, citing sources, reported that Trump promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy to immediately send Kyiv ten desperately needed Patriot interceptor missiles, as well as help find other sources of supplies. July 10 reiterated the pledge to step up supplies as Russia launches a missile war against Ukrainian strategic targets.

However, it remains unclear if Trump will follow through on his pledge. Each Russian missile usually requires two Patriot rockets to bring it down and Russia has been firing as many as a dozen missiles in a single night since the missile campaign got under way in May. Zelenskiy said Russia launched 18 missiles and around 400 drones in an attack that primarily targeted the capital Kyiv on July 9 alone.

A senior White House source told The Washington Post on July 9 that the president had now agreed to “some Ukrainian requests for military aid” based on a detailed list that Zelenskiy handed him last month when they met at the Nato summit in The Hague.

The Guardian, citing four informed sources, recently reported that the US only has 25% of the missiles it needs to meet its strategic goals after recent deployments depleted stockpiles in the Middle East and experts say it will take years to fully restock.

In a parallel meeting in Rome of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC25), Trump's Ukraine Envoy Keith Kellogg met with Zelenskiy to discuss options for rebuilding the country if the war should end.