U.S. soldiers missing in Lithuania: Trump's lack of awareness
The fate and circumstances surrounding the disappearance of four American soldiers in Lithuania remain unknown. The bodies have not been found, and thus their deaths have not been confirmed. Donald Trump was questioned about the issue, and he was unaware of it.
During a press conference, Donald Trump was asked whether he was informed about the soldiers who disappeared during military exercises near the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and who were initially mistakenly presumed dead.
Trump stirred controversy. He was unaware of the action in Lithuania
"No, I haven’t," Trump immediately responded.
His response caused astonishment on social media and among critics, some of whom compared it to the so-called complete ignorance of the president regarding the so-called Signalgate.
On Monday, "The Atlantic" published an article in which editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg describes how he accidentally found himself in a discussion group on the Signal app, where plans for an attack on Yemen were being discussed. Among those involved in the conversation were Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
"Absolutely shocking statement"
"So Trump didn't know about the soldiers... and they didn't tell him about the Signal chat... who's really running the White House?" – wrote The Lincoln Project on platform X.
Another user, quoted by The Independent, wrote: "How has SecDef Hegseth not briefed POTUS on the missing U.S. soldiers in Lithuania? This has been in the public domain for 8+ hours."
His lack of knowledge or care about this situation is another major scandal," wrote one critic, while another commented: "This dude has zero clue what’s happening in his administration."
"This is an absolutely shocking statement," commented journalist Aaron Rupar.
"Four service members lose their lives in Lithuania and Donald Trump is completely oblivious. Let a random building in Colorado hang a picture of him he doesn’t like and he rants about it online all day. But four dead Americans? No idea," wrote Shea Jordan Smith.
Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly from Virginia also expressed his outrage at the president's reaction on platform X.
"He fired thousands of veterans across the government. His team carelessly shares information that puts our pilots at risk. He doesn’t care to know about missing American soldiers. What more proof do we need that this man [isn't concernced] about the heroes who protect us?" – he wrote.
Operation lasts all night
The bodies of the four US soldiers have not been found, and their deaths have not been confirmed, reported Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakalienė. On Thursday, accompanied by Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, she arrived at the training ground in Pabradė, near the Belarusian border, where the American soldiers went missing.
Šakalienė stated that rescue work had been ongoing throughout the night in the swampy terrain where the armoured vehicle, Hercules, in which the soldiers were riding, was detected. Water was being pumped out, and the ground was being reinforced to allow heavy machinery access to the site without damaging the nearby pipeline.
"There is no guarantee that the soldiers are inside the vehicle. Other scenarios are also being considered, which gives some hope for rescuing the missing," said Šakalienė in an interview with the public broadcaster RLT.
