TAMPA, Fla. — As Russia's war on Ukraine heads into a second week there is continued concern over the brewing refugee crisis.
The United Nations reported that more than 1 million refugees have already fled into neighboring countries in just the first week since Russia began its attacks.
A Tampa-based non-profit has been helping some of them get out of danger zones and into neighboring countries where humanitarian relief efforts are ongoing.
"Every story is bad, every single one. Nobody wakes up and says I can't wait to be a refugee one day. No one says that ever." said Bryan Stern, founder, Project DYNAMO.
With the situation continuing to unfold, the United Nations Operational Data Portal on the Ukraine Refugee Situation estimates that more than 4 million refugees will flee the country to seek shelter.
Teams with Project DYNAMO continue to help with many of those evacuations.
As of Friday, the group was conducting its eighth rescue mission, dubbed "Apollo 8." That mission would bring the total number of people rescued by the team to nearly 100. The evacuees included American, British, Ukrainian, Romanian, and Afghan citizens
Stern said there are many challenges evacuation crews face.
"Gasoline is hard to find, food is hard to find, safe havens are hard to find, all kinds of stuff," Stern said.
On one recent run from Kyiv to the border, Stern said teams encountered nearly 60 checkpoints.
"When you approach these checkpoints, it's incredibly scary because the guns are out, there are lots of machine guns, sometimes armored vehicles all kinds of stuff. So, if you're a civilian, if you're just a housewife or something like that and you have two little kids that are traveling with you like we had the other day, it's scary," he said.
The current evacuation is taking families from Odessa to the Romanian border where a robust humanitarian effort is in place.
Stern spoke about how people feel and what they say to him when they get to the other side of the border.
"More than anything is 'Thank you for saving my life.' We get that with every operation. If we get on the road with one person or 20 people we're still assuming risks and we still have to build everything out," he said.
Project DYNAMO's registration database has now exceeded 9,000 people who are all seeking help to get out of the war zone.
"That number includes several hundred American citizens, lawful permanent residents of the U.S. and their family members, as well as residents from France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Afghanistan, and other European nations, many of whom include children and the elderly," a statement read.
Stern said their efforts to rescue people require a lot of support and funding to help keep their operations going.
"Drivers who are brave enough to drive into the combat zone and help me bring people out, just finding those kinds of courageous men and women, are hard to find and there's a premium as is appropriate," he said.
Project DYNAMO is made up of volunteers, some of whom are former and current members of the U.S. military.
People interested in donating or learning more about Project DYNAMO can do so by visiting www.projectdynamo.org.