The four American troops who went missing during an exercise at the Pabrade training area in Lithuania on March 25 are presumably dead, and their vehicle has been found in a swamp, although, as of noon of March 27, official sources have not yet confirmed this and the armoured vehicle has yet not been pulled out, as of the time of writing.

The Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Dovile Sakaliene stated on the morning of March 27 that rescuers had not yet managed to extract the tracked vehicle from the water. Therefore it remains unclear whether the four missing American soldiers were inside it.

When asked on the evening of March 26 whether he had been informed about the missing soldiers, US President Donald Trump replied: “No, I haven’t.”

Valdas Tutkus, Lithuania’s former Chief of Defence, told bne IntelliNews on March 27 that several key questions about the incident have not been answered so far.

“First, how the vehicle ended up in the swamp, especially, if we are to believe the reports, after the training was over. Secondly, I speak from my own experience: any training is followed by a check of the personnel and the vehicles. At this point, we do not know if this was done. If it was done, then when, by whom, etc. Thirdly, it was a Nato military exercise, led by the Americans, and representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces do not usually participate in them. However, this still needs to be clarified,” V. Tutkus said.

Unlike aircraft, military vehicles do not typically have the so-called “black boxes,” he noted.

According to Tutkus, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence is handling the situation very well and is in charge of disseminating information about the incident.

“More clarity will come after the vehicle is pulled out from the swamp. There is still a glimmer of hope – very tiny, though – that the troops, provided they are in the vehicle, could still be alive,” Lithuania’s former chief of defence told bne IntelliNews.

“I do not think that the incident damages Lithuania’s reputation… We need to remember that military training is like a combative sport, and things – including bad things, possibly like in this case –  do happen,” Tutkus emphasised.

The sinking of the US-operated M88 armoured vehicle in a swamp at the Pabrade training ground is the first such incident in the history of this training area, says former chief of defence and retired Lieutenant-General Jonas Vytautas Zukas. He said he could not recall any other case where soldiers in Lithuania had encountered problems with heavy equipment in swamps.

As the Lithuanian military and rescue services continue searching for the four missing US soldiers, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth commented: “Four of our brave soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division went missing in Lithuania. They were participating in planned tactical exercises. We are praying for their families, their teammates and the entire unit, as well as for everyone involved in the search operation. Whatever our soldiers do – combat missions or training – it is never easy. We will not stop until our soldiers are found,” Hegseth posted on social media platform X.

At 4:45 p.m. on March 25, a report was received about missing US soldiers and a tracked vehicle during military exercises at the General Silvestras Zukauskas Training Area in Pabrade.

Raimundas Vaiksnoras. the Chief of Defence, has said he does not want to speculate on whether the armoured vehicle, used in the training by US troops, should have gone into such a challenging, swampy area. He noted that such decisions are made by the commander in charge of the exercises.

“There are boundaries of the training area, roads, and section lines – all are used for exercises. Yes, we can now speculate whether the vehicle should have gone there. Maybe not, since it’s a swamp. That has to be assessed. That’s why soldiers are trained – to evaluate such situations...I don’t want to speculate whether it was necessary or not. That’s for the training commander to decide, based on the objectives of the training,” he said, LRT.lt reported.

The Pabrade training area (poligonas) is one of Lithuania’s largest military training grounds, located near the town of Pabrade in Svencionys District, eastern Lithuania. It is used by the Lithuanian Armed Forces and Nato allied troops for military exercises.

The area encompassed roughly 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres), making it a major training site for land and mechanised forces and hosts various military exercises, including live-fire drills, mechanised manoeuvres and joint training with Nato allies.

Located close to Belarus, making it a key location for Nato's regional defence strategies.

On March 26, Edvard Valujevic, sub-elder of a sub-elderate in the Pabrade eldership, told bne IntelliNews that the locals and he himself are ‘struck and devastated’ by the immensity of the tragedy.

“Frankly, although the training area is part of our eldership, we hardly receive any information from it. However, the local people started talking yesterday about a tragedy involving foreign troops. It is horrible to hear news of the deaths," he said.