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NATO issued a clarification on Wednesday following comments made by Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who earlier suggested that four missing U.S. soldiers in Lithuania had died. The organization emphasized that their fate remains unconfirmed, despite ongoing recovery efforts.
Ongoing Search Efforts
“The search is ongoing,” NATO stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We regret any confusion about remarks @SecGenNATO delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown.”
The U.S. Army confirmed that the Hercules armored vehicle carrying the four soldiers was found submerged in a body of water. Efforts to recover the vehicle and locate the soldiers are being conducted jointly by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces, and civilian agencies.
The missing soldiers belong to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division and were engaged in a tactical training exercise when they disappeared.
White House Response on Missing US Soldiers In Lithuania
Asked about the situation during a press briefing on Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump said, “No, I haven’t,” indicating he had yet to be briefed on the missing soldiers.
Speaking in Warsaw, Rutte told reporters he had received word of the soldiers’ deaths while delivering a lecture. However, he acknowledged that details were still emerging.
“This is still early news, so we do not know the details. This is really terrible news, and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones,” Rutte said.
What Happened in Lithuania?
According to Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, the soldiers and their vehicle were reported missing on Tuesday afternoon during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė. The town is located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Belarusian border.
Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, is a NATO member and has maintained tense relations with Russia—Belarus’s key ally—since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The relationship further deteriorated following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has remained one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in its resistance against Russian forces.
