NATO retracts comment on death of 4 US soldiers in Lithuania

Following reports on Wednesday that four US soldiers had died during a training exercise close to the Belarusian border in Lithuania, NATO clarified that this had not been confirmed.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had said on Wednesday that the four soldiers were "killed in an incident in Lithuania." However, NATO later said that the US military had not confirmed any deaths.

"The search is ongoing," NATO said in a statement posted on X. "We regret any confusion about remarks [Rutte] delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown."

The US military has confirmed that the vehicle the soldiers were in had been found submerged in a body of water, but that recovery efforts were still underway.

Lithuania's military had earlier announced that they were searching for the soldiers, who were reported missing on Tuesday afternoon.

Search ongoing 

On Thursday, Lithuania's Defense Ministry said that a search was ongoing and "all scenarios are being examined."

"There is currently no confirmed information and no bodies have been found. It would therefore be simply wrong to claim that the soldiers are dead," said Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene 

The US Army said in a statement that the soldier were conducting "scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident."

The four soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division were training in a Hercules armored vehicle that was recovered. 

Lithuanian and foreign troops used air force helicopters to search for the missing soldiers and were assisted by state border guard agents.

Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, the V Corps commander, said, "I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian armed forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations."  

Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, hosts more than 1,000 American troops stationed in the country on a rotational basis.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the deaths of US soldiers during training in Lithuania had been confirmed by the US military. It has also been updated to include NATO's clarification that the fate of the missing is still unknown. We apologize for the error.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn, Wesley Dockery