TAMPA, Fla. — It’s the unification one Texas couple will never forget. Their baby twins were trapped in Russia for months before a local Tampa organization went to Russia and rescued those twins to bring them home.
Thanks to the organization called Project DYNAMO, a set of 3-month-old twins were united with their parents last Thursday, but the process of getting them home was nail-biting for everyone involved. Project DYNAMO conducts rescue operations in Afghanistan and Ukraine, but this would be their first time conducting an operation in Russia.
This whole situation started in September when the Ukrainian surrogate mother was forced to flee due to the on-going war in the Donbas region. “It’s incredibly violent. It’s bombings, it’s shootings, it’s murders, it’s rapes,” said Bryan Stern with Project DYNAMO.
She eventually ended up in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she gave birth to the twins. While their parents were thousands of miles away, the twins were put into an orphanage.
“After all this time and all this work and all this money and all this everything. Good news: your babies are born in a war zone,” Stern continued.
Along with anxiously trying to get their babies for months, the concern their twins could be adopted by a Russian family loomed. “We knew it was a possibility. 100% it was a possibility,” said Stern.
Putting pressure on the organization to act fast. They got a plan in place, working with Russian lawyers and key people on the ground to make this operation a success.
“But making sure that the right questions would be asked and that the right answers would be provided so that we got to 'yes' was the most important thing. This family has been doing that and getting to 'no' for three months,” Stern continued.
After gaining approval, the clock was ticking. The rescue operation lasted about 13 hours. Now, the family is united for the first time right before the holidays. “Overwhelmed, some tears, some laughter, elation and a lot, a lot of shock,” said Stern describing the unification.
Project DYNAMO depends on donations from people so they can continue to carry out rescue operations.
“We’re already getting hit with new cases just like this one in Russia that we’re exploring at this time,” said Stern.
