Speaking earlier today with NBC News, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that no meeting has been planned between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but claims that Putin is prepared to meet with Zelensky. Lavrov then claims that Zelensky is an “illegitimate leader” and cannot sign any ceasefire agreement or deal to end the ongoing invasion by Russia. Putin has ruled Russia since 1999 and has consistently changed the Russian Constitution to allow him to remain as either Prime Minister or President.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance claimed during an interview earlier today with NBC News that “every major conflict in human history” has ended with some kind of negotiations, talking about peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. I guess he forgot about both World War ll and the Gulf War.

Vice-President JD Vance: “I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict. They’ve actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands.”

NBC News Kristen Welker: “You talk about concessions, and yet the Russians rejected the ceasefire proposal that President Trump put forward. There's no meeting planned between President Putin and President Zelensky. And this week, Russia targeted an American factory in Ukraine. What makes you think President Putin is serious about peace?”

Vice-President JD Vance: “Well, I didn't say they conceded on everything. But what they have conceded is the recognition that Ukraine will have territorial integrity after the war. They've recognized that they're not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. That was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, they've acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has assessed that Russia is escalating it campaign of GPS and communication jamming across NATO’s Eastern Front, including in countries like Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, as well as others on or near the Baltic Sea. Concerns have been raised to international transport organizations over sharp increases in GPS and signal jamming and spoofing in recent months as well as an increase in Russian electronic warfare installations deployed to the border with countries bordering both Western Russia and Kaliningrad.

After being forced to return to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to wait out Hurricane Erin, the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), consisting of the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) and USS San Antonio (LPD-17), have finally departed for their deployment to the Southern Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. There they will join by the Arleigh Burke-Class Guided-Missile Destroyers: USS Sampson (DDG-102), USS Gravely (DDG-107), and USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), who have already arrived in the U.S. Southern Command’s Area-of-Responsibility.

The Russian milblog channel Rybar is suggesting that Russia deliver “Shahed-131/136” One-Way Attack Drones to Venezuela to “deter” any future military action from the United States.

Initial reports of an active shooter on the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Major police response at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, following reports of an active shooter at the Thomas Cooper Library.

The University of South Carolina is reporting that law enforcement is currently searching the Columbia Campus but so far there is no evidence of an active shooter, with students and staff told to continue sheltering in place until there is an All Clear.

All clear given at the University of South Carolina’s Columbia Campus, following reports earlier of an active shooter which appear to have caused by an individual with an umbrella looking object which was mistaken for a long-rifle.

The individual who was seen walking around the University of South Carolina in Columbia earlier with an umbrella, which triggered an alert for a possible active shooter near the Thomas Cooper Library.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump said on Friday that national security and privacy concerns related to TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are “highly overrated” and that he will continue extending the deadline for the popular video-sharing platform until it is purchased by a company or group based in United States, in violation of the ban approved last year by Congress. This statement by the President follows last week’s announcement that the White House had created its own account on TikTok.

For the third time in the past week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked an Ilyushin Il-20M “Coot-A” Special Mission Electronic Signals Intelligence Aircraft with the Russian Air Force operating earlier today within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). In response, NORAD scrambled an E-3 “Sentry” Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft, a KC-135 “Stratotanker” Aerial-Refueling Tanker, and a pair of F-16 “Fighting Falcons” to intercept, visually identify, and monitor the Il-20M.