Kirillo Alexandrov, said to be the first American war crimes survivor since WWII, was honored at a motorcycle ride four years after his escape with Grey Bull Rescue.
TAMPA, Fla. — Four years after enduring 37 days of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Russian military and intelligence forces in Ukraine, Kirillo Alexandrov finally received a hero’s welcome — not from government officials, but from the roar of motorcycle engines on a sun-baked Florida road.
Alexandrov, who moved from Detroit with his family, was visiting relatives in Ukraine when Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Leading a peaceful life as a farmer, he was falsely accused of espionage by Russian forces and subjected to what advocates describe as systematic war crimes.
He is believed to be the first American victim of war crimes to survive since World War II.
“There was a lot of torture, physical and mental abuse. A lot of psychological games. A lot of rape. A lot of violent acts they take out on each other and they also take out on people they hate,” Alexandrov said at the a motorcycle rally held in his honor Saturday.
The Clearwater event was organized by volunteers and the founder of Grey Bull Rescue, Bryan Stern.
It’s a Tampa-based nonprofit that extracts civilians and others from conflict zones. Stern has been called “The American Magician,” a moniker reportedly bestowed by bewildered Russian forces who could not explain how Alexandrov disappeared from their custody.
“When I rescued Kirillo, I was in Adidas and a beanie hat. I was in a track suit. The Russians to this day still don’t know,” Stern said. “That’s where the Magician thing comes from because they’re really confused. They’re really confused and they’re pretty angry.”
The rescue operative, a U.S. military veteran and Purple Heart recipient, said the lack of official recognition for Alexandrov has long troubled him.
“No one has welcomed him home. That has always rubbed me the wrong way. That’s always hurt me as an American, as a veteran, as a Purple Heart recipient,” Stern said.
To illustrate the audacity of the operation, he offered a pointed analogy: “If the FBI had a Russian spy in custody here in Tampa and all the FBI guys went out to Jackson’s or wherever, had a couple cigars and came back to see the jail cell was empty, there would be a lot of questions.”
Stern says Grey Bull Rescue has helped twelve people, including Alexandrov, safely flee from the grips of Russian holdings or detainment. They are all part of 809 Grey Bull Rescues to date. Leading to 8,748 people being transported to safety Stern said, including Alexandrov.
Alexandrov reflected on the anniversary of his ordeal with a mixture of gravity and hard-won gratitude.
“I was effectively a slave four years ago. At this time I was being moved and on my way to freedom but the uncertainty was very strong. We didn’t know what was going to be next,” he said looking back on May 8 and 9 in 2022.
He credits the Grey Bull Rescue founder — who was operating dozens of miles away at the height of the mission — with saving not only his life but his family’s.
“He was 60, 70 miles away but he was alone with me on that bridge of misery and pain. It was just us. Us against the world. He got me through. He got my family through. He got himself through. That’s what’s truly remarkable. That’s the actual victory in all this,” Alexandrov said.
It was Alexandrov’s mother who saw Stern on the news and reached out to Grey Bull Rescue in hopes of saving her captive son.
Now, on the other side of that ordeal, Alexandrov said he has found a measure of peace in simple freedoms like riding his first ever motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Street Bob model.
“There is something very freeing and liberating about riding a bike and you being in control of your own life,” he said.
Grey Bull Rescue is scheduled to appear at SOF Week, a gathering of leaders in the special operations community, May 18-21 at the Tampa Convention Center. The public is invited to attend, learn more about the organization and purchase merchandise to support its nonprofit missions.
If you’d like to donate to Grey Bull Rescue, you can click here.