Volunteers with the civilian rescue group Project Dynamo are heading to Ukraine this week to lay the groundwork for an operation to evacuate American citizens who may get trapped in the country if the Russian army invades.
Project Dynamo is one of the dozens of civilian groups that organized last summer to help rescue Americans and American allies from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Its founder, Bryan Stern, told National Review that because the group essentially organized on the fly last year, there was little time to plan and prepare in Afghanistan. That’s not the case in Ukraine.
Because the Russians haven’t invaded yet — and might not invade at all — Stern said Project Dynamo volunteers have a window to get on the ground, gain an understanding of the environment, network, and scout potential evacuation routes before any shots are fired.
“Dynamo was formed as things were already going bad [in Afghanistan], the wheels were already falling off,” Stern said. “Right now we have the opportunity to plan and prep and set things up before things go completely sideways from a war perspective.”
The Biden administration has urged Americans to leave Ukraine. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that the U.S. government was not prepared to rescue Americans who do not make the “responsible choice” to flee.
“It is the time to leave now, while commercial options and commercial rail and air service exist, while the roads are open,” said Sullivan. “The president will not be putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk by sending them into a war zone to rescue people who could have left now, but chose not to.”
Stern and other rescue group leaders have been critical of the Biden administration’s efforts to rescue Americans and U.S. allies from Afghanistan, despite official claims that they’re working “around the clock” on relocation operations. He said he appreciates the administration being honest with people that they do not intend to rescue Americans who get stuck in Ukraine.
“For an outfit like Project Dynamo, that’s a perfect space for us to operate in,” he said, adding that rescuing Americans from Afghanistan remains his primary focus.
Stern said he didn’t plan to get involved in Ukraine until he was contacted by one of his donors, who has people inside of the country and asked if Project Dynamo could help if needed.
Stern flew to eastern Europe on Tuesday with a colleague, Stan Bunner. Both Stern and Bunner are military veterans. Project Dynamo, which is donor-funded, has twelve volunteers, though only a few head overseas to manage rescue operations.
Stern noted there are several differences between their rescue operations in Afghanistan and what could come together in Ukraine. On the bright side, the Russians likely wouldn’t be specifically targeting Americans. But they do boast significantly more advanced military technology than the Taliban — including anti-aircraft defenses, which could complicated air rescues — and their missiles, rockets, and tanks “can’t tell the difference between a Ukrainian and an American one way or another, and that’s the real problem,” according to Stern.
If the Russians do invade, it’s unclear exactly what it will entail or how big an invasion it will be. “We don’t know, and because we don’t know we’re setting up for a number of different contingencies and plans, from land crossing to air crossings to all kinds of stuff,” Stern said.
Stern said tens of thousands of Ukrainian Americans are living, working, and visiting Ukraine every day. He suspects most have left, but a significant number likely remain.
“What we learned from the Afghanistan situation is, when you tell people to leave, number one, they don’t always listen,” he said. “And number two, there’s always stragglers. There’s always, ‘Well I lost my passport.’ There’s always, ‘My mother’s very sick and I can’t leave her.’ There’s always, ‘I didn’t think it was real. I hedged my bet. I have a business in Ukraine. I’m not going to abandon ship.’ . . . All of that stuff.”
Stern said Project Dynamo is adding a link to their website that will allow Americans who get stuck in Ukraine to reach out for help. When American rescue groups began operations in Afghanistan, “everyone was like, ‘Get me the hell out of here.’ Everybody,” Stern said. That’s not the case in Ukraine at the moment.
“There are Ukrainians that are at dinner tonight just saying, ‘Whatevs. Maybe something happens, maybe something doesn’t, but it will be okay.’ But that all changes once the artillery starts firing,” said Stern, adding that having talked with people who’ve endured a Russian invasion, it’s “not a pleasant experience.”
U.S. intelligence assessments over the weekend suggested that a Russian invasion could have commenced as early as Wednesday, according to the New York Times. Since then, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a partial pull-back of troops deployed near the Ukrainian border in order to pursue a “diplomatic path” to resolve the crisis. NATO leaders have said they’ve seen no evidence of a Russian withdrawal, and at least one U.S. official has said the Russians have added another 7,000 troops to the border.
President Joe Biden said this week that as many as 150,000 Russian troops are stationed near the Ukrainian border, according to the Times.