NATO walks back comments about US soldiers in Lithuania being dead, says search still ongoing

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) says the search for the missing U.S. soldiers in Lithuania is still ongoing, seeming to walk back earlier comments about them being dead.

“On the 4 US soldiers missing in a military exercise in Lithuania, the search is ongoing,” Active NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart wrote on the social media platform, X on Wednesday.

“We regret any confusion about remarks @SecGenNATO delivered on this today,” the post continued. “He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown.”

On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the four missing soldiers were dead.

He said he didn’t know the details of the deaths but his thoughts were with the families of the individuals.

It was reported Tuesday by the Lithuanian public broadcaster that a vehicle and four U.S. soldiers were missing Tuesday afternoon. They were in Lithuania for training.