A US army soldier of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division follows a Ghost-X drone during the Combined Resolve 25-1 military exercise in Hohenfels, Germany, 03 February 2025. EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK The soldiers in the M88 Hercules armoured recovery vehicle were on an exercise at the Pabrade training ground near the Belarus border where US units have been rotating since 2019.
Their vehicle was located on Wednesday at more than 5 metres down and enough water had now been drained from the swamp to begin digging for it, Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene told reporters on Thursday morning after surveying the site.
Hundreds of Lithuanian and US soldiers with dozens of vehicles were working at the site and surveying nearby woodland in hope of finding the soldiers. "To us, their soldiers are like our soldiers," said army head Raimundas Vaiksnoras said.
US ambassador Kara McDonald thanked Lithuania for the help, calling it a model ally. "As our secretary of defence said, we will not rest until our troops are found", she added at the site, saying recovery of the vehicle was difficult.
Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Kestutis Budrys told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington earlier this week that his country was ready to host more US troops.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)