‘From A War Zone To An MBA’: Stanford Students Successfully Deliver Equipment To Ukraine
Riley Webster
6 min read
Stanford MBA student Alex Clark (pictured) and Andrei Molychynsky delivered two ambulances and 70 radios to the city of Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine. Courtesy photos
When Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, Stanford MBA students Andrei Molychynsky and Alex Clark wanted to help.
The two built a team and, cutting their summer breaks short, flew to Hungary and drove nearly 2,000 miles to deliver ambulances and encrypted communication devices to Kryvyi Rih, a city of just under 650,000 struggling to provide medical support for a flood of refugees. Kryvyi Rih is also Molychynsky’s hometown.
The mission became what is now known as Project Independence Day. While the journey was full of unknowns, snap decisions, and grave realities of a full-fledged war, the team successfully delivered two — soon to be three — vehicles and nearly 70 radios to the frontlines.
Poets&Quants spoke with Clark and Molychynsky prior to their August 18 departure. Here, they share their journey traveling to a war zone to support a country that’s still in desperate need of help — and what they’ll take with them in their final year at Stanford.
As they neared their departure date, they added two more members to their four-person team, as well as two Ukrainian escorts. These escorts would meet them at the Ukraine border crossing to act as interpreters, help them go through checkpoints, and safely deliver their equipment.
Once arriving in Budapest on August 18, the team had 48 hours to prepare for their arrival in Ukraine; the plan was to head to the Slovakia-Ukraine border crossing at 1 a.m. on August 20.
Although they’d secured three ambulances, they soon discovered that one had mechanical issues. They decided to temporarily leave the third ambulance behind, which is set to be fixed by September 2. On September 5, they’ll have one of their team members join an escort to make another trip to Kryvyi Rih to finalize the delivery.
CROSSING THE BORDER
With the two ambulances in tow, it was time to cross the Slovakian border into Ukraine.
In the early hours of that morning, two Ukrainian escorts walked across the border from Ukraine to Slovakia to meet the team. Unfortunately, the border crossing didn’t go as planned; It turned out they didn’t have an export license for the vehicles that would be accepted by Slovakia, so they couldn’t cross. They decided to head to the Hungary-Ukraine border instead.
But before they went to this border, they split up their team; there were concerns that they had too many personnel with the two ambulances. A team member and an escort crossed the Slovakia-Ukraine border by foot, and, once the rest of the team made it across the border — in under an hour, thankfully — they met up on the other side and continued their journey to Kryvyi Rih.
The Project Independence Day team delivered two ambulances to Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine. Courtesy photo
‘SLEEP WAS ALWAYS INTERRUPTED BY AIR SIRENS’
Once entering Ukraine, it took them a total of two days to arrive at Kryvyi Rih. On their first day of travel, they had minimal checkpoints or interruption as they moved through western and central Ukraine, which was far from the frontlines.
The next morning was their final push to their destination. According to Molychynsky, this is when the realities of the war started to hit. “We began observing soldiers and military equipment being transported in different regions of the country,” he says. “Sleep was always interrupted by air sirens and the air force.”
‘SIGNS OF CONFLICT & WAR BECAME UBIQUITOUS’
Alex Clark: “We’re coming from a ware zone to an MBA program, which is quite the contrast.”
For Molychynsky, the return to his home country was ‘bittersweet.’ “It was surreal,” he says. “We were traveling through the beautiful countryside, with rolling hills and a picturesque landscape. But as we neared closer to my hometown, signs of conflict and war became ubiquitous.”
“You don’t know what to expect,” he continues. “That was the bitter part. You don’t know how to behave or address these new realities. There were a lot of unknowns. Because of this, It seemed like a very familiar – yet unfamiliar place.”
ARRIVING IN KRYVYI RIH
On the night of August 21, they arrived at their final destination — just in time for Ukraine’s Independence Day happening on August 24 when they planned to deliver the equipment. “Independence Day this year was very subdued,” says Molychynsky. “There were no celebrations, since officials wanted to avoid public events and not put anyone in danger.”
Molychynsky recounts that the people of his hometown gave the Project Independence Day team a warm welcome and showed gratitude for their delivery; two teammates even made appearances on the local news. “People were extremely happy to have received the two vehicles,” continues Molychynsky. “They were also happy to see foreigners; what I understood from officials is that very few volunteers have come in-person to give anything.”
Shortly after their delivery, Molychynsky woke up to a long range artillery strike 10 minutes away from the team’s headquarters on the morning of August 25. Thankfully, the entire Project Independence Day team was safe.
‘FROM A WAR ZONE TO AN MBA’
Throughout their journey, Clark and Molychynsky say they received a ton of support from Stanford — specifically from the school’s media team, who helped to spread the word and land them features in NBC Bay Area and The Stanford Daily. “I also received a few messages from professors,” says Molychynsky. “And of course, our classmates sent us supportive messages, too.”
As the team prepares to deliver the third ambulance, Clark and Molychynsky also prepare to enter their final year at the GSB. “It’s a surreal feeling to have Project Independence Day wrapping up,” says Clark. “We’re coming from a war zone to an MBA program, which is quite the contrast.”
For Molychynsky, he’s taking life “day by day” and still processing the experience as he enters his final year. For Clark, he shares that his perspective on life – and career – has been altered since this experience. According to him, Project Independence Day has deepened his desire to create an impact. He plans on exploring opportunities to continue doing so before graduating in 2023,. “I don’t know what that will be yet, but I have this year to figure it out,” he says.
