A German brigade deployed on NATO's eastern flank in Lithuania formally entered service on Tuesday. The 45 Armoured Brigade of the German Army became operational following an activation ceremony in Vilnius.

The U.S. soldiers had been at the center of a recovery mission in Lithuania for nearly a week after their armored vehicle sank in a body of water.

Germany has decided to station an armoured brigade in Lithuania, marking the first such move since the Second World War. "We must ensure the protection of our Lithuanian allies," emphasised General Christoph Huber.

NATO walked back its claim that the four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania had died. On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that four U.S. soldiers who had gone missing during a training exercise in Lithuania had died.

The bodies of the three other soldiers were recovered Monday after U.S., Polish and Lithuanian armed forces and authorities dug the M88 Hercules vehicle out of a peat bog at the expansive Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in the town of Pabradė.

NATO is clarifying comments that Secretary-General Mark Rutte made when he suggested that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania had died, even though the U.S. Army said their

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave the NATO alliance should member states fail to increase defensive spending. Now, they are.

The body of a fourth U.S. Army soldiers have been found nearly a week after they went missing in Lithuania during a training exercise, officials said