NATO on Wednesday sought to clarify comments made by Secretary-General Mark Rutte regarding the fate of missing US soldiers in Lithuania, emphasizing that their deaths have not been confirmed.
“We regret any confusion about remarks Secretary-General Mark Rutte delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown,” NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart wrote on X. She added that search operations are ongoing. The four US Army soldiers went missing on Tuesday during a routine training exercise in Lithuania, and their vehicle was later found submerged in water near the eastern city of Pabrade.
The US Army and NATO allies are conducting a multinational search effort in the area. Lithuania, a Baltic nation with a population of 1.9 million, regularly hosts joint military exercises with US forces as part of NATO’s defense strategy.
