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Rubio's Plane Returns after Mechanical Issue, Unclear if he Can Make Zelenskiy Meeting

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks a plane as he returns to Joint Base Andrews after the plane experienced a mechanical issue while flying him to the Munich Security Conference and turned around, in Maryland, US, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks a plane as he returns to Joint Base Andrews after the plane experienced a mechanical issue while flying him to the Munich Security Conference and turned around, in Maryland, US, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
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Rubio's Plane Returns after Mechanical Issue, Unclear if he Can Make Zelenskiy Meeting

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks a plane as he returns to Joint Base Andrews after the plane experienced a mechanical issue while flying him to the Munich Security Conference and turned around, in Maryland, US, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks a plane as he returns to Joint Base Andrews after the plane experienced a mechanical issue while flying him to the Munich Security Conference and turned around, in Maryland, US, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

A US Air Force plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Munich was forced to return to Washington on Thursday after experiencing a mechanical problem, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

"The Secretary intends to continue his travel to Germany and the Middle East on a separate aircraft," Reuters quoted Bruce as saying in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether Rubio would be able to make it to a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, planned for Friday morning on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference.

The mechanical issue in the C-32 plane, a converted Boeing 757, related to a crack in the cockpit windshield, a US official said, forcing the plane to turn around about 90 minutes after taking off.

Rubio’s plane landed safely at Joint Base Andrews just outside the capital around 10 p.m. It had taken off around 7 p.m.

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Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
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Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday as part of the two countries' efforts to normalize ties that were strained over historic disputes and Türkiye’s alliance with Azerbaijan.

The talks between the two countries, which have no formal diplomatic ties, were expected to center on the possible reopening of their joint border as well as the war between Israel and Iran.

Türkiye, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Türkiye strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Türkiye and Armenia also have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Türkiye.

Historians widely view the event as genocide. Türkiye vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting that the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.

The rare visit by an Armenian leader comes after Ankara and Yerevan agreed in 2021 to launch efforts toward normalizing ties and appointed special representatives to lead talks.

Pashinyan previously visited Türkiye in 2023 when he attended a presidential inauguration ceremony following an election victory by Erdogan. The two have also held talks on the sideline of a meeting in Prague in 2022.

It is Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation. Türkiye and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.