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SPONSORED CONTENT – It’s been more than two years since Russian President Putin announced a “special military operation” on February 24th, 2022 that effectively declared war on Ukraine. Since then, we’ve seen two years of Putin’s lies about genocide, Nazism, and the continued saber-rattling of nuclear weapons to scare the rest of the world away from interfering directly.
We’ve also witnessed two years of unwavering Ukrainian resolve.
More than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have reportedly been killed since the start of the conflict, although real numbers are assessed to be “significantly higher” according to the UN human rights mission in Ukraine. More than 10,000 civilians who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – leave Ukraine.
Between Ukrainian President Zelensky’s Martial Law stating that men aged 18 to 60 were not permitted to leave the country and the hundreds of thousands who refused to depart out of profound resilient national pride, few decided to leave the war zone. For those who did, there were limited options, especially in the early days of the war.
Concentric’s Evacuation Support
Concentric, a U.S.-based security firm, immediately activated their European network and provided evacuation services throughout Ukraine to the neighboring countries of Poland and Romania within 24 hours of the start of the war. In all, Concentric, along with their non-profit arm, The 188 Foundation, conducted 34 unique missions, rescuing 86 women, children, and elderly men (along with their pets) over the course of two months in Ukraine. Requests came from companies needing to evacuate their employees, families desperate to relocate, and individual Ukrainians trapped by the ever-shifting front lines of the conflict.
The sheer logistics of these rescues included: negotiating multiple day-long border lines, curfew limitations, acquiring a large van in the midst of the war to evacuate wheel-chair bound children or those that required being transported laying down due to with medical limitations, delivering refrigerated diabetes medicine to stranded civilians, or securing safe houses along the exfiltration routes and humanitarian corridors. All of this was completed while avoiding Russian tanks, rocket attacks, and soldiers preventing civilians from leaving.
One unique rescue operation even involved crossing Russian borders to evacuate the Ukrainian civilians to Poland. Too often did Concentric witness Ukrainian military-aged-males accompanying their families to the border, only to say goodbye so they could return to the fight.
High Risk Operations
Concentric’s highest risk evacuation was in support of an elderly, blind, and physically disabled woman in the Russian-controlled area of Irpin. Due to the proximity of the fighting, there was no power, so Concentric’s operators could not communicate directly with the evacuee. Her daughter, based in the U.S., provided detailed instructions on how to enter the large apartment complex and find her apartment, specifically. However, Concentric and their partners repeatedly attempted the rescue for five days unsuccessfully. Due to the intensity of the fighting, four partner networks refused the rescue attempt due to security concerns for the operators. Finally, during a sudden lull in the fighting, Concentric was able to reach her building and successfully rescued her, extracting her from the high-risk area.
Following up today, mother and daughter are reunited after the harrowing event. Remembering coordinating from the US for the operation occurring 4800 miles away, her daughter states today “My mother felt extremely traumatized but the driver made her feel so much better and totally confident that things would be fine”. Concentric enabled her mother’s relocation to the Hungarian border, per her request.
One of the first requests to Concentric was in support of a six-day-old baby, born to her surrogate mother in Kyiv. Her parents in Norway had no way to contact the surrogacy agency nor did they know the status of their newborn daughter in the midst of the early days of the war. We utilized an agent in Kyiv to physically visit the Agency to confirm the baby survived the initial onslaught of Russian missiles. She was located, healthy, in the bomb bunker.
Concentric and our partners successfully transported her father from Warsaw, Poland, into a safe house in Lviv, Ukraine, and onto Kyiv where he met his daughter for the first time in the bomb shelter underneath the surrogacy agency. From there, Concentric exfiltrated both father and daughter through the war zone, requiring multiple stops to avoid bombing and rocket attacks. Sixteen hours after leaving the Kyiv bomb shelter, the baby was introduced to her mother for the first time in a hotel in Warsaw, Poland.
We were able to follow up with the baby’s father to discuss the rescue operation and the two years since. Here’s a look at what happened, in his own words:
Father: “Even today the whole ordeal seems absurd and as if a dream while I still can remember vividly almost everything… As soon as I left Warsaw with my first team it was as if all fear was drained out of me, and I had full focus on what we needed to do. I stayed in this way until we finally found her in Kyiv at nightfall during the booming of artillery in the distance. When I saw her cradled in her yellow and blue carry-bag I was overwhelmed with emotions and burst into tears – but only for a couple of minutes as we had to get out of Kyiv before the curfew came into effect so I had to reset myself quickly and run back to our car so we could get out of Kyiv as quick as possible. It was only the first of many desperate situations though as we slowly made our way out of Ukraine while trying to constantly maneuver away from hot spots and getting our group safely through every checkpoint along the way and finally through border control. As we crossed the border I could finally let go and cried tears of joy as I held L safely in my arms.”
Concentric: How has the Ukraine war affected your life since you got home?
Father: The war continues to be a big part of our everyday life. We follow all the media coverage of it and discuss it every day in our house. Whenever there is a discussion about events in the world at work and with friends, I often bring it up to keep it on everyone’s minds and remind them of the unbelievable hardship the Ukrainian people are living under. We need to keep the attention on the war and not allow it to become forgotten or to become “normal.” The actions of an evil imperialistic autocracy with complete disregard for human life should never be accepted or considered to be “normal.”
Concentric: What do you think you’ll tell Baby L about her first weeks of life?
Father: As soon as I got back to Poland from Ukraine with L safe and sound, I wrote down all of what I could remember then of the whole ordeal. When she gets older and will understand better, I will give it to her so she can read herself about all that happened.
Concentric: Anything you want to share about the experience, as a whole?
Father: Me and my family will be forever grateful to all that helped us get our daughter out of the warzone safely – there are so many both in and outside Ukraine who made this possible and we still talk about how impressive and humbling it has been for us to encounter so many wonderful and extremely capable people. We hope to meet as many of them again in the future – in a world which at times can seem so dark we hope to bring some light into the lives of the ones who helped us by reminding them that they made this happy story a possibility and made a safe and happy upbringing of a small baby girl possible.
Two Years
It’s been two years since these harrowing rescues which, while a crucial first step, were only a small part of the relocation, healing, and survival efforts made by so many Ukrainians and enabled by incredible philanthropic organizations across Europe that worked to receive families, house, feed, educate, employ, and support the Ukrainian refugees. These stories of human resolve remind us what continues to be at stake, even today.
The beginning of the war spurred international support for Ukraine, the likes of which hadn’t ever been seen. The physical enablement, financial contribution, and vast popular support that was so readily offered in the first few months of the war has waned significantly as priorities have evolved, focus has been split, and empathy fatigued.
The war continues to merit our international attention.
The Ukrainians deserve our collective support.
If you would like to support Ukrainian organizations continuing to support Ukrainians within Ukraine and the surrounding countries through medical, psychological, or reintegrative resources, please consider donating to The 188 Foundation. Reach out to Laura Hoffner, Chief Impact Officer at Concentric and Founding Director of 188 at [email protected].
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