TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa-based nonprofit Project DYNAMO on Friday began exfiltrating a second group of U.S. citizens from Ukraine.
The organization, which was founded by combat veterans, picked up a busload of Americans around 5 a.m. ET in the capital city of Kyiv, which has been the target of a new round of Russian attacks.
They are being taken to an undisclosed country. From there, they will be brought to an airport or American embassy.
This latest mission has been dubbed Apollo 2. The previous operation on Thursday evacuated Americans and some residents of other NATO countries who were trapped in Ukraine when the full-scale Russian invasion began. That first mission began only moments after explosions were heard in the region. As of Friday morning, the initial group of evacuees were nearing safety just miles from the border, Project DYNAMO confirmed.
“We currently expect to have the first group of Americans out of Ukraine in the next 24 hours and are hopeful to launch the third and fourth Apollo missions soon,” James Judge, a spokesman for Project DYNAMO, wrote in a statement. “While our primary focus is and remains getting Americans out, we are also aiding some residents of neighboring countries who are desperate to flee the war-torn country.”
In the last 48 hours alone, the nonprofit has gotten more than 1,000 requests for help getting out of Ukraine. Since January, Project DYNAMO team members have been on the ground in the country, prepping for the inevitable.
For one woman in San Antonio, TX, this evacuation mission is personal. Sue Daniels' husband Paul is among the people being evacuated from Ukraine by project Dynamo on Friday.
Paul was traveling abroad for a personal reason the family did not wish to disclose. He had anticipated getting out of the country before things escalated, but missed his window to fly out this week.
"He called me and he's like 'oh my gosh, I got to the airport and they met us with machine guns, they wouldn't let us in.. and then the airports were bombed," said Sue.
Panicked, Sue sought help from multiple embassies, but could not find a way to get her husband out. Eventually, someone at her work suggested she reach out to Project Dynamo.
She says just 30 minutes after she submitted a request on the group's website, her husband called her.
"He contacted me and said 'hey, who the heck is Project Dynamo?' And I said, 'Oh my gosh, do what they say! They're going to get you out!' And he was on a bus less than three hours later."
While Sue says she won't be able to sleep until she knows her husband is safely out of Ukrainian territory, she's breathing a little easier knowing he's in good hands.
"I'd never heard of Project Dynamo, but you better believe I'm always going to remember them!"
Sue says she and many of her friends have already donated to Project Dynamo in her husband's name.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden had urged Americans to get out of Ukraine before an invasion. But, not everyone was able to do so. And, the State Department had previously said it would not be able to help with evacuations of American citizens once the Russians entered the country.
With all that in mind, Project DYNAMO took matters into its own hands – expanding on the previous missions it had run to save people in Afghanistan when the U.S. withdrew troops. Preparations intensified last week when the U.S. State Department evacuated diplomats and abandoned the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“As always, our mission is to never leave an American behind," Project DYANMO co-founder Matthew Herring wrote.
As the nonprofit gears up to save more people from Ukraine, the organization — which is made up of volunteers — continues to carry out operations to get families out of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Many of the individuals volunteering with Project DYANMO have ties to the military or intelligence communities.
Click here to learn more about the organization's rescue efforts and to find out how you can financially support the nonprofit.