With Missiles Flying, Tampa Nonprofit Works Feverishly To Evacuate Americans In Ukraine

TAMPA, FL — As missiles were launched by Russian forces in Ukraine during the early hours Thursday, Tampa resident Bryan Stern and Naples resident Stan Bunner were huddled in a hotel in Kyiv, mapping out the route they planned to take to evacuate Americans from the combat zone.

Both former combat veterans, Stern and Bunner — along with fellow veterans Sean Patrick and Matt Herring — are co-founders of the Tampa-based nonprofit Project Dynamo, an organization whose mission is to rescue Americans in war zones.

"We took missile fire at least twice near our hotel in Kyiv," Stern told journalists during a Face Time interview with James Judge, host of "The Judge Show" podcast and president of Judge Public Relations.

As the sun rose, the two men made their way to the location of the bus they'd leased and were greeted by frantic, frightened Americans eager to get out of harm's way. Bunner and Stern filled all the seats on the bus, and then overflow evacuees piled into Stern and Bunner's rented cars.

"We had people waiting at the rally point, but we also picked up people along the way who are desperate to get out of the country," Stern said. "People on the street came to us and asked for help. They’re alive because of us. There’s no greater calling than that."

Among the evacuees in Ukraine's capital was a woman from New Mexico. Originally from Ukraine, she moved to the United States in 2014. She said she traveled to Ukraine to attend her father's funeral and had no idea about the bombing until she was contacted by relatives in the U.S.

"I arrived yesterday, and I was sleeping, I was so tired from my flight, and my relatives they call me from America, and they say I have to get out," said the woman named Natalia. "I couldn't believe it. It was so scary. I just don't know how this is possible."

She said an employee at the hotel told her about Project Dynamo and put her in contact with Stern who made sure she got a seat on the bus.

Stern believes Project Dynamo is the first American evacuation organization in Ukraine.

In Kyiv, the largest city in Ukraine, chaos reigns as both Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians make a mad dash to get out of the country, he said.

"We’ve been on the move since we loaded the bus," Stern said. "We drove through some crazy places. We're seeing people fleeing everywhere you look. In Kyiv, we heard missiles, fighter planes, helicopters and, I think, Ukrainian tanks. It was definitely an active combat environment."

Stern said they have video of crematoriums being hauled into Kyiv on trailers "because they're expecting to cremate the people they kill in the east."

At one point, Stern said they were detained by police in Kyiv.

"That's par for the course. It wouldn't be a Dynamo operation if I didn't wind up jammed up by the cops," he said. "It's consistent with operating out of places with no American embassy."

Fortunately, Stern had his International Police Association Membership and Fraternal Order of Police ID cards.

"I just pulled them out, and they sent us on our way," he said. "Pretty gnarly."

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After sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Kyiv, the convoy of about 28 American evacuees including three children made their way to a lightly traveled rural road that would take them to the nearest American embassy in Budapest, Hungary.

"Now we're on the road less traveled, so we're moving along," Stern said. "We're about 200 kilometers outside of Kyiv and have at least nine hours to go. But at least we're out of the combat zone."

Realizing that fighting was imminent, Stern and Bunner arrived in Ukraine earlier this week.

"We came out in advance to build the human and physical infrastructure, and it turned out to be a good decision because we were ready to roll when the missiles began flying," he said. "Using the lessons learned in Afghanistan, Stan and I have a good plan in place that works beautifully."

Neither of the men are strangers to combat zones.

Stern is an Army and Navy combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He was among the first military responders at ground zero following the 9/11 attacks and was subsequently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now president of John Paul Jones Consulting International LLC.

Bunner is also a multi-tour combat veteran of the global war on terror. He now operates his own law firm in Naples.

Stern was at home in Tampa talking to his friend and fellow decorated veteran, Matt Herring, now the CEO of Ultra Defense Corp. and Liberty Aviation International, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired general, was being interviewed on television.

"The general said we (the U.S.) didn't have the capability to fly in and out of Kabul airport to rescue Americans in Afghanistan," Herring recalled. "Then Bryan just said, 'Let's do it ourselves.'"

"That's exactly how it happened," Stern concurred.

Stern recruited Bunner and another decorated veteran, Sean Patrick, to join the mission.

"We got visas the first thing Monday morning, hit REI for supplies and headed to the airport," Stern said. "Once we had boots on the ground, we started evacuating people."

With Bunner remaining in Florida to coordinate the effort, Patrick, Herring and Stern arrived in Afghanistan a week before the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.

"We couldn't simply stand by and be spectators to this crisis," Stern said. "I was always taught to leave no man behind."

"As patriots, we are compelled to respond to this crisis," Herring said.

Between August and December, the four men coordinated the evacuation of 2,000 Americans.

Initially, Project Dynamo was self-funded. But Herring said they quickly realized they couldn't keep robbing their personal savings, so Bunner obtained 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for Project Dynamo, and they began accepting donations.

Stern said their rescue efforts in Afghanistan proved to be a practice run for Ukraine.

"Now we're talking about 11,000, 12,000 Americans needing to get out of the Ukraine," Stern said. "It's 10 times worse than Afghanistan."

In both Afghanistan and Ukraine, there's no U.S. embassy and little assistance available from the U.S. State Department, although Stern has been in contact with the U.S. officials who are aware of the nonprofit's efforts.

"It's crazy," Stern said. "This is the second country I've been to in the last 90 days that has no U.S. embassy. The State Department can only do so much. It's turned into a self-evacuation effort for Americans here. They want to leave, and we want to help them."

At this early stage, Stern said he has no idea how many visits they'll need to make to Ukraine to evacuate Americans.

"What's going on here is unprecedented. There are literally thousands of Americans and NATO allies who are going to be under the thumb of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin," he said. "Putin went from, you know, bully world leader to Saddam Hussein rock-star status war criminal extraordinaire."

He said a lot depends on money.

"The reality is our ability to do operations is predicated on funding," he said. "We can't do this without funding. We need funding and we need more funding."

So far, Project Dynamo has raised $182,000 of the $500,000 the nonprofit co-founders estimate they'll need to fly take Americans across the border and fly them to the U.S. The four men take no funds for themselves, and there is no charge to the evacuees. All funds donated go to evacuations, Herring said.

To donate to Project Dynamo, people can click here.