NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on Wednesday that the four American soldiers who had previously gone missing during training in Lithuania have tragically been found dead. Rutte expressed his condolences to the families and the United States, although he acknowledged that the details of the incident were still unknown. An anonymous U.S. official stated that the soldiers were involved in a training accident but did not provide further information on their condition.
During a visit to Warsaw, Rutte addressed the media, stating, “The news of the four American soldiers who lost their lives in Lithuania is truly devastating. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones during this difficult time.”
In a developing story, the U.S. Army confirmed that the soldiers had gone missing at a training facility near the Lithuanian capital. The search for the missing soldiers and their vehicle is currently ongoing. The soldiers were engaged in scheduled tactical training at the time of their disappearance, according to a statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Lithuanian authorities reported that the soldiers and their vehicle were last seen during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town situated near the Belarusian border. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, all members of NATO, have had tense relations with Russia since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 has further strained these relations, with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda advocating for Ukraine in its resistance against Russian intervention.
