NATO confirms search is 'still ongoing' for four missing US soldiers after spokesman mistakenly said they died

NATO has clarified Mark Rutte's claims about the fate of US soldiers missing in Lithuania, after the Secretary General mistakenly said the group had been killed.

Yesterday (26 March) Rutte claimed the missing personnel had died during a speech at the Warsaw School of Economics, telling reporters: "Whilst I was speaking, the news came out about four American soldiers who were killed in an incident in Lithuania.

"That’s still early news, so we do not know the details, but obviously this is really terrible news, and our thoughts are with families and loved ones.

"I sent a message to the American secretary of defence Pete Hegseth that, of course, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and with the United States."

However, the military alliance has now confirmed on social media that searches for the group are ongoing and apologised for any initial confusion.

Rutte mistakenly said the four soldiers had died while speaking in Warsaw (Andrzej Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"The search is ongoing," NATO wrote on X. "We regret any confusion about remarks @SecGenNATO delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown."

Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported that the four US soldiers and their vehicle were reported missing on Tuesday afternoon during an exercise at the General Silvestras Zukauskas training ground in Pabrade, which lies just just six miles from the boarder with Russian allied Belarus.

The US army said a Hercules armoured vehicle the four US soldiers were in during a training exercise had been found submerged in a body of water. It said recovery efforts were under way by the US army and Lithuanian armed forces and civilian agencies.

The soldiers were conducting tactical training when they went missing.

Asked on Wednesday evening by reporters if he had been briefed about the missing soldiers, US President Donald Trump said: "No, I haven’t."

The military personnel remain missing (Getty Stock Images)

The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all members of NATO, having joined the organisation in 2004.

All three nations share a boarder with either Russia or Belarus and were previously members of the Soviet Union until 1991.