Project Dynamo helped to extract Americans who were trapped near Kyiv

Project Dynamo helped to extract Americans who were trapped near Kyiv

Transcript¹

When Russian forces took over neighborhoods in Ukraine, it was difficult to evacuate² people. Project Dynamo helps get people out.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The images of bodies strewn through the streets of Bucha have shocked the world. They show the terror people were living under when Russian forces took their neighborhoods in Ukraine. But they also show how difficult, almost impossible, really, it is to get into besieged³ areas to evacuate people. When we were in Ukraine, we followed the rescue of one couple stuck in a key suburb that fell under siege, like Bucha. This is their story.

It is 2 a.m. It's freezing. We're on the train platform waiting for a train out of Lviv and into Kyiv. And on that train, we'll meet up with the head of Project Dynamo. They're on an evacuation mission. And we're going to follow them.

When the train finally rolls in, at the far end in a sleeper⁴ car is where we meet up with Bryan Stern, an Army and Navy combat veteran. This is operation number what for you?

BRYAN STERN: We're setting up for our 19th mission.

FADEL: Stern was moved to start extracting people from conflict as he watched the chaotic⁶ withdrawal⁷ of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, watched desperate Afghans clinging to the landing gear of C-17s taking off from Kabul. He was a 9/11 first responder.

STERN: And it struck a chord with me because the last time I saw people fall to their deaths was on 9/11 as they were falling on top of me.

FADEL: So Stern started Project Dynamo to evacuate people from Afghanistan. Some six months later, on the day Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Stern was in Kyiv getting people out.

And you're picking them up on the worst day of their lives. What are they telling you?

STERN: They're terrified. They're confused. Their entire livelihood⁸ is whittled⁹ down to a shopping bag.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)

FADEL: On this day, he's planning for three extractions.

STERN: Hey. It's Bryan from Dynamo. How are you?

FADEL: He sits on a red leather banquette, making calls. First, he plans for a bus of people in Kyiv he'll get out across the Romanian border. Stern then turns to his riskiest¹⁰ mission, figuring out how to get Bob Platts (ph), a 62-year-old American veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, out of the Kyiv suburb where he lives with his Ukrainian wife.

STERN: So there's this major battle going on in his neighborhood.

FADEL: Platts' wife was sick with COVID when the U.S. warned Americans to leave, so they stayed as Russia invaded. And as his wife recovered, the situation around them grew worse.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE BEEPING)

FADEL: From his Kyiv hotel, Stern calls Platts.

STERN: Hey, Bob. It's Bryan. How are you?

BOB PLATT: All right. What's going on?

STERN: OK. We have a little problem.

FADEL: On the outskirts¹¹ of the city, not far from where Platts is, there are reports of Russian soldiers going door to door.

STERN: It's not sounding good, brother.

PLATT: OK.

FADEL: Stern eventually tells the veteran he needs him to drive out of the neighborhood at a specific time. Platts is scared.

STERN: So keep your [expletive] together. Keep everything charged and ready to go, OK? I'm going to try and make a play for you tomorrow. It's definitely getting worse, not better, all right? So our window to get you out is definitely shrinking.

PLATT: I got to think about that because they're killing¹² people that are traveling alone and not under some kind of escort.

STERN: Yep. That's why I want to get there instead.

PLATT: Well, I mean, if you're not here, then we're not going.

STERN: OK.

PLATT: And that's a decision I'm going to have to make because I don't want to risk my family.

STERN: Yep. I hear you. I hear you.

PLATT: And I don't want you to take any unnecessary risks either.

STERN: Well, let me worry about that part, OK?

PLATT: Yeah. It's not worth any of us dying for, that's for sure.

FADEL: Stern heads upstairs in his Kyiv hotel to sit in a glass box for smokers¹³ after curfew. He smokes and thinks, smokes and thinks. His Ukrainian driver won't go. It's too dangerous. There are Russian checkpoints and constant artillery¹⁴ fire.

At what point do you say, this one's too risky¹⁵? Do you ever see that?

PLATT: I don't know yet. I don't know. But I hear his voice. And he's a vet⁵. And I'm a vet and, like, don't leave a man behind stuff, you know? I mean, you heard his voice.

FADEL: The next morning, Stern goes alone to get Platts. Hours go by, nothing from Stern but a concerning voice text.

STERN: Getting dicey here.

FADEL: And then that evening, a call.

STERN: The window closed, so...

FADEL: The window - so you couldn't get him?

STERN: I did not get him, no.

FADEL: Oh, Brian. I'm so sorry.

STERN: Yeah. I'm pretty sure that he'll be killed tonight.

FADEL: Russian artillery pounded the last Ukrainian checkpoint near Platts' neighborhood. Stern had to turn around - his first failed mission since he started doing extractions. But Platts survives the night. And so Stern tries again and again until we get a call on a recent afternoon.

STERN: OK. So Bob's right here. You guys can do introductions.

PLATT: How are you?

FADEL: Bob Platts is out with his wife. At 4 a.m., he got a text from Stern. Be ready to leave in 20 minutes, it said. This time, Platts and his wife take their chances without an escort, afraid of what might happen if they stay.

PLATT: Well, it was pretty scary. I mean, we had to take logging trails because we were surrounded by Russians.

FADEL: Under the cover of darkness, they drove out of their village to get to Stern.

PLATT: You know, the whole two or three weeks that we were stuck, artillery, mortar¹⁶ fire, that was falling all around us. We were in the middle of a 360-degree Russian, you know, probably battalion-plus.

FADEL: And were you just not leaving your home? Were you able to get out to get food, to get water?

PLATT: We had our own well on our property, so that helped. But the gas got cut off. The electricity got cut off. I mean, we were down to eating six potatoes a day.

FADEL: Did anybody attempt to leave and failed?

PLATT: There was a neighbor of ours that once the Russians had occupied the village Bohdanivka and we were cut off from the water supply, this guy tried to drive into the village to go to the community well. And they killed him.

FADEL: Oh.

PLATT: He was an unarmed civilian¹⁷. And once they killed him, to this day, he's still sitting in his car.

FADEL: Oh.

PLATT: They won't let anybody recover his body.

FADEL: Was there any point that you thought, we're not going to make it?

PLATT: Every day.

FADEL: Do you think you'll be able to see it again, see your house, see your village?

PLATT: If I have to live to be 100, to spend every dollar of my retirement¹⁸ income to help rebuild the place, that's what we're going to do. I will go back one day.

FADEL: Platts is among the lucky ones. The scenes of the cities and towns that Ukrainian forces recently recaptured showed just how many people did not survive the Russian siege, people like Platts' neighbor. And right now, Ukrainians in cities like Mariupol are stuck with no one coming to rescue them.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

3 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

4 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。

5 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

6 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

9 whittled   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He whittled a simple toy from the piece of wood. 他把那块木头削成了一个简易的玩具。
• The government's majority has been whittled down to eight. 政府多数票减少到了八票。

10 riskiest   

冒险的，危险的( risky的最高级 )

参考例句：

• With markets lately rising, the riskiest investments are finding takers. 他说，在周期高峰时，投资者会追逐风险最高的资产。
• The riskiest subprime securitieshave almost no takers. 风险最高的次级证券几乎没有人持有。

11 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

14 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

15 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

16 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

17 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

18 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。