U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plane, en route to Munich for the negotiations on the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, has turned around for unknown reasons.

According to Barak Ravid, an unnamed U.S. official has told him that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plane is turning around due to a crack in the windshield and it is “not a safety concern.” The secretary will switch planes and then restart the flight to Munich, Germany.

The cracked windshield on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Boeing C-32, which will land soon at Joint base Andrews near Washington D.C., brings to mind the incident on British Airways Flight 5390 in 1990. During that flight the captain, Timothy Lancaster, was partially sucked out of the cockpit of the plane when the windscreen blew off due to faulty fastenings. A flight attendant, Nigel Ogden, held Lancaster in place hanging out of the window until the copilot, Alastair Aitchison, safely made an emergency landing. Lancaster survived with a dislocated shoulder and frostbite. Incidents like this and many others are why the integrity of an aircraft’s windshields are so important.

According to a release from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the VA dismissed more than 1,000 employees who served in non-critical positions today. These dismissals were conducted in a manner that ensures that VA benefits and services are uninterrupted. We’ll provide the link to the full release in a follow on post.

Full release from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/

Footage from last night, showing a Russian Drone striking the Containment Structure around Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) in Northern Ukraine, as well as the extent of the Damage from inside the Containment Structure. The Drone is said to have contained a High-Explosive Warhead, and entered Ukrainian Airspace from the direction of Belarus to the North.

In an Interview yesterday with the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance stated that the United States would issue Major Sanctions against the Russian Federation, as well as possibly deploy Troops to Ukraine, if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not come to the Negotiating Table with a Deal to end the ongoing Invasion of Ukraine. Vice-President Vance will meet later today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich, with him stating that any Negotiations with Putin will also involve President Zelensky and Ukraine.

Besides the Drone which struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), last night Russia launched over 133 “Shahed-136” and other Drones against Ukraine, with the Ukrainian Air Force reported to have downed at least 73 of the Drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s press secretary Serhii Nikiforov has reportedly announced that the Ukrainian President is now meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

A number of key meetings are set to happen over the course of this conference. This includes preliminary negotiations on some form of cessation of hostilities in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.