What was this guy doing living in Mariupol?
An American nuclear scientist, and designer of sensitive technology found in dozens of laser-guided weapons systems used by the U.S. military, is actively being rescued from Russian-occupied territory deep in Ukraine after being hunted by Russian forces for months.
John Spor, a Texas native and founder of Texas Photonics Inc., had been living in Mariupol, Ukraine, when the city was attacked and occupied by invading Russian forces in February.
Following the siege and unrelenting brutal artillery and missile attacks, Spor fled his residence, and has been in hiding ever since, evading capture.
Due to the sensitive U.S. national security interests of his work, Spor is considered a high value target to Russian forces and intelligence services. Since then, Chechen-Russian forces ransacked his residence and have been actively hunting him, seeking to discover his whereabouts from various sources on the ground. Spor’s knowledge of sensitive U.S. military technology is of tremendous intelligence value to Russia. If he was captured and interrogated, his knowledge would cause exceptionally grave damage to U.S. national security and NATO forces.
Due to the dire situation in Mariupol, as witnessed by international media, and Spor’s inability to simply leave due to his profile and since he was trapped deep behind Russian lines, Spor’s sister contacted the U.S. State Department, Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Congressman Randy Weber to request emergency evacuation assistance for her brother.
They recommended Project DYNAMO, an American, veteran-run, donor-funded, non-profit rescue organization specializing in challenging exfiltration missions from hostile regions around the world. Project DYNAMO has been working on this complex and dangerous mission to rescue Spor for more than a month.
On Tuesday, the team from Project DYNAMO led by Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project DYNAMO and a highly decorated U.S. military officer, moved Spor through Russian territory, crossing more than 30 Russian checkpoints and into Ukraine. Stern employed a series of complex tactics and techniques, honed over many years of government service, to mask Spor, his location, and his movement from the clutches of Russian security services. Project DYNAMO was able to rescue Spor via Kherson and through Mykolaiv and he is now enroute to a neighboring country where is family is eagerly waiting.
“Project DYNAMO has been with our family every step of the way through this nightmare. DYNAMO has been the answer to our family’s prayers,” said Lauri Weigle, Spor’s sister. “We are in amazement that he is finally on his way to us and safe after months of hoping and praying.”
Due to the ongoing nature of this mission, some details and locations are being withheld, and will be provided upon the successful completion of the mission.
“I’m so grateful for Project DYNAMO and the support they have provided to me and my family during this time,” said Sean Spor, John’s son, who flew to Europe for the reunion. “They’ve rescued my dad from harm’s way and I am eagerly awaiting his arrival.”
Project DYNAMO is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Tampa, Florida and was established by several U.S. servicemembers during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2021. Recognizing that the U.S. government was unlikely to conduct operations on the ground in Ukraine, Project DYNAMO forward-deployed team members in January of 2022 to begin planning for rescue operations in the event of a Russian invasion.
To date, Project DYNAMO has rescued more than 2,000 people from the most war-torn, contested, and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and transported them safely to neighboring countries including APOLLO-humanitarian convoys, GEMINI-newborn surrogate babies, AQUARIUS-pregnant surrogate mothers, ARIES-medical evacuations, ATLAS-special needs civilians, VOYAGER-Holocaust survivors, and ORION-special cases including the daring unilateral rescues of American Citizens Robert Platt, Kirillo Alexandrov, C.J. Pegg, and now John Spor.
Anyone in need of evacuation is urged to register at www.projectdynamo.org and register for the U.S. State Department’s STEP program.
An NGO that goes where our government cannot without engaging in acts of war. How convenient.