The Americans held back Ukraine fled the war-torn country by bus this morning after the Russian president Vladimir Putin they invaded the country with a torrent of air strikes that none of them imagined would happen.
DailyMail.com spoke to a group of 23 US citizens as they were transported from Kiev to Romania in two vehicles – a minibus and a car – organized by Brian Stern, a 23-year-old Army and Navy veteran who rescued 2,000 people from Kabul last year with his volunteer group Project Dynamo.
He gathered the American evacuees at 5 a.m. in Kiev as “rockets fell from the sky” around them. They are now driving for 18 hours to Romania, taking quieter, smaller roads in hopes of avoiding Russian troops and fighters.
“The rockets landed at 5 in the morning. The sun rose and we rolled an hour later on a bus full of evacuees, “Stern told DailyMail.com this morning as he drove a car full of evacuees.
The other vehicle is driven by his translator, who also runs a bus company. Stern agreed to take the man and his family to safety in exchange for using the vehicle.
The group includes several children, a group of business colleagues and a Ukrainian-American woman who attended her father’s funeral in Kiev yesterday and woke up to airstrikes this morning.
“None of them expected that to happen. There is just complete distrust. Deep down, we thought he was not Saddam Hussein. He’s not that bad. But that’s right, he has achieved the status of a war criminal, “Stern told Putin.
It remains unclear exactly how many Americans or Ukrainian Americans are still stuck in Ukraine. The death toll remains unclear, but is already in the dozens.
The State Department said earlier this month that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 people in the country. Biden warned on February 10 that the government would not save anyone abandoned, as it did with the Taliban in Kabul last summer.
US evacuees today are being rescued from Ukraine by buses organized by Project Dynamo, a volunteer group formed by former Army Lieutenant Brian Stern. Among the group were three children smiling from the back seat of a bus as Russian fighters flew over them.
Among the people in the evacuee group are American-Ukrainian business men and women and their families. None of them thought Putin was really going to invade, and they were stunned to wake up to air strikes this morning.
An explosion lit up the night sky over Kiev in the early hours of Thursday as Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine from the north, south and east with bombs, cruise missiles and rockets falling from the sky.
A huge explosion is observed at the Vinnytsia military base in central Ukraine as the country comes under widespread attack from Russia.
The attack has reached Ukraine on all fronts, with bombs and missiles hitting targets across the country, ground forces targeting Belarus, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, and paratroopers throwing over Kharkiv
Stern said Thursday that the differences between the two operations are huge. On the one hand, he said it was easier to prepare for the Ukrainian crisis because it was well expected.
On the other hand, the Russian army is much better and more complex than the Taliban, which had no real air presence and limited arsenal.
“The downside is that we did not have to face the Russian military machine in Kabul. The Taliban did not have air missiles, they did not have air supremacy. “They have other problems, but they don’t have the fierce military machine of the Red Army,” he said.
Project Dynamo founder Brian Stern is a 26-year-old U.S. military veteran who has rescued more than 2,000 people from Kabul since August and is now expelling evacuees from Ukraine.
Stern and his group were already driving for eight hours when DailyMail.com spoke to them, and they had another 10 hours on the road.
The group is divided into what they want to do next.
Stern said some plan to stay in Romania, in hotels, apartments or elsewhere, until the situation calms down.
Some are desperate to return to America and must now find a way to reach a country where airspace is not limited and they can take a commercial flight home.
He said he had not asked them why they had not fled earlier and that he was not prosecuting them.
“At least two people cried in my arms. We have a little girl, 11, who is very scared. Of course, they would be scared.
“Rockets were falling around them.”
He and his group have strategically taken lesser-known routes to try to avoid trouble. They passed through Ukrainian police checkpoints while talking on the phone to DailyMail.com, but Stern said he was worried about what awaited them at the border.
“We have three small children on the bus. I hope he’s asleep. We stop from time to time.
“There is a lot of traffic, so we take the smaller roads, which are also less of a destination. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I told the bus driver not to drive fast enough to burst a tire. You will not overtake a helicopter or a tank.
– We are moving expeditiously. There were maybe 2,000 Americans in Kabul, but ten times as many in Ukraine, maybe 50,000. It’s a very, very big country, and everyone is trying to get out at once.
“I expect Kabul’s chaos and chaos 100 times. This is a very big country with a lot of people and almost every one of them doesn’t want to live here anymore. You cannot go east, north or south. It only goes in one direction.
In this rescue operation, he must also fight Russian cybersecurity attacks and air strikes.
Stern said he would return to take more Americans and others if he had the money and if it was safe enough.
He launched Project Dynamo last year while watching the Kabul disaster unfold.
“If I have a little money and it’s a bigger threat, then I’ll move it to smaller groups. There are currently thousands of Americans and NATO allies in Ukraine.
New Jersey-born James Burke lives in Kiev with his Ukrainian wife and baby (left). It is unclear whether they are still in Ukraine. Earlier this week, the family headed west to Poland when tensions erupted. Catherine Quinn-Dwarf (right) is a Kiev-based analyst. It is still unclear whether she managed to escape the conflict
An injured woman was seen in an air strike in a residential complex outside Kharkov, Ukraine
Ukrainian security forces escort a wounded man after an air strike on a residential complex in Chukhuyev, Kharkov
Damage to a residential building in Chukhuyev, Kharkiv region, can be seen in footage released by the Ukrainian National Guard
Vladimir Putin is pictured in the early hours of Thursday morning declaring war on Ukraine in what he called a “special military operation.”
“Our team in America and Canada is building manifestos. We are trying to unite people. We do not know exactly how many there are, but to put it this way – there is never a shortage of customers in such a situation.
“As long as we have money, we will continue to work. After 23 years in the army, we say “no one is abandoned”. Our oath is to support and defend … whether in uniform or not.
“I hate just sitting there watching TV, knowing we can help.”
The Project Dynamo website – where people stranded in Ukraine can ask for help and where donations can be made – has been found here.
On February 10, about two weeks before the first air strikes, Biden warned in an interview with NBC News: “American citizens must leave now.
“It’s not like dealing with a terrorist organization. We are dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. The situation is very different and things can go crazy quickly, “he said.
He was referring to how US troops managed to evacuate Kabul citizens in August during an outrageous operation that killed 13 US servicemen.
Ukraine closed its airspace last night, before the first air strikes, pending the conflict.
Many fled to Lviv, one of Ukraine’s westernmost cities, earlier this week as the situation escalated. Lviv is about 62 miles from the Polish border.
Stern still urges anyone who has the means to get out without help to do so.
“The ability to get out is getting worse by the minute.
“If you’re an American stuck in that zoo, it’s going to be pretty awful. That is why we are here to mitigate this as much as possible, “he warned earlier this week.
Russian soldiers raise flag over Kakhovka hydroelectric plant after helicopter attack
Ukrainian servicemen are preparing to repel an attack in the Ukrainian region of Luhansk
Stern, who has toured extensively in both the military and navy, added: “If you can go out, leave. We are not a travel agency. If you have the means to go, go.
Among those who hesitated to leave earlier in the week was New Jersey native James Burke, who lives in Kiev with his Ukrainian wife and one-month-old daughter.
He fled to the west when tensions erupted earlier in the week, but it is unclear where he is now.
The pressure on President Biden is intensifying to take a stronger position.
In a statement Thursday morning, former President George W. Bush said: “The US government and people must stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as they seek freedom and the right to choose their future.
“We cannot tolerate the authoritarian harassment and danger that Putin poses. “Ukraine is our friend and democratic ally and deserves our full support in this most difficult time,” he said.
Former President Donald J. Trump said the situation would never have escalated to such an extent if he were still in office.
“Some people say why this hasn’t happened in the last four years.
“It wasn’t for a very good reason, and I’ll explain it to you one day, but it wasn’t going to happen, and it wasn’t going to happen right now. This is a sad thing for the world and the country and many people who will be killed unnecessarily, “he told FOX last night in a telephone interview.