A group of four American soldiers who went missing near a training area just south of Lithuania's capital have reportedly died.
The U.S. Army Europe and Africa announced Wednesday that the servicemembers — all from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division — were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time they went missing and a search and recovery mission was underway.
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However, The Associated Press is reporting that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters later Wednesday that he had received word the four soldiers had died and said his thoughts are with their famliies.
"This is still early news so we do not know the details," Rutte said.
Lithuania, formerly the Soviet republic of Lithuania, has been a member of NATO since 2004 but shares a 400-plus-mile long border with Belarus and its authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has been a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin since his invasion of Ukraine.
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