The four US soldiers and a tank disappeared while on a training mission inPabrade, Lithuania yesterday
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died (
Image: AP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died, but that he did not yet know the details.
A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers.
According to 15min sources, the soldiers are believed to have died after entering a body of water.
Skaitykite daugiau: https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/nusikaltimaiirnelaimes/mislingas-pranesimas-pabradeje-po-pratybu-dingo-kariai-su-automobiliu-59-2419288?utm_medium=copiedRutte said during a trip to Warsaw that he had received word of the deaths of the four soldiers and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.
“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 told reporters in Warsaw.
A statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.
Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported that four U.S. soldiers and vehicle were reported missing Tuesday afternoon during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Belarus.
The Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are all NATO members and have often had chilly ties with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
Relations soured further over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Ukraine in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
( Getty Images)
Previously, Vilnius police department notified officials at 7.20pm about the disappearance of three soldiers and a vehicle post-training exercise in eastern Lithuania; however, recent reports indicate it is actually four missing soldiers. Authorities are currently piecing together the incident details as the search persists.
Major Gintautas Ciunis, a spokesman for the Lithuanian Armed Forces, indicated to local media that the individuals unaccounted for were not from Lithuania but withheld further specifics, saying: “I can only say that they are foreign soldiers.”
Regarding the situation, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, Giedrimas Jeglinskas, communicated to LRT RADIO his knowledge of the disappearance but refrained from providing additional information. On air, he urged discretion: “There is a request from the military and the forces that were conducting the drills to exercise discretion at this time and not to make any comments.
“Let’s be respectful, let’s allow all the prosecutors to do their work. The police and all the elements that have to be involved are involved, these investigations are involved.”
The General Silvestras Zukauskas training ground in Pabrade is situated less than 6 miles from the Belarus border. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, all NATO members, have had frosty relations with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
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