Two premature babies were rescued from Ukraine in a daring operation carried out by American army veterans.

Lenny and Moishe Spektor, a pair of surrogate twins, were born at 27 weeks on Feb 25th, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Alex Spektor, the father of the twins, launched an operation from Poland to evacuate the pair safely so they could be brought home with him back to America.

Bryan Stern, who was part of Project Dynamo, the group that rescued the babies told US Radio station NPR: “We picked up baby Lenny and baby Moishe.

“Russians were shelling something else, but it was close enough that the ground was shaking.

“I mean, the artillery doesn’t care what it is — it’s gonna land where it lands. The artillery doesn’t say like, ‘Oh, well, there’s babies here, so we’ll go somewhere else.

The hospital where the boys were born was shelled just days after they were succesfully evacuated.

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Alex Spektor and Brian Stern with rescuers who helped evacuate the premature twins Lenny and Moishe (Project Dynamo)

Mr. Stern is an American army veteran who has organised the evacuation of over 100 people from Ukraine since the war began.

Despite knowing almost nothing about how to care for premature babies, Mr Stern said he learned everything he needed to know on the 14 hour drive to and from Kyiv to get the babies.

Mr Spektor's wife is joining him in Poland, hoping to meet the babies for the first time. After seeing his twins himself for the first time, Mr Spektor said: “The war didn’t want to let them go. But we got them out. They’re just tiny but amazing”.