DWTS's Maksim Chmerkovskiy has been giving real-time updates on the ground in Ukraine
Getty/Instagram/@maksimc
When Dancing With the Stars pro Maks Chmerkovskiy agreed to film World of Dance in Ukraine six months ago, he knew it could be dangerous. But he never believed things between Russia and his home country would escalate so quickly.
Now, he’s in a bomb shelter giving real-time updates to followers on Instagram after Russia’s invasion this week.
The series of emotional videos began on Feb. 24. In the first, Maks explains he’s not a “social media guy” in terms of posting during times of personal difficulty. But he wanted to showcase the reality of the situation in Kyiv. In that vein, he also shows a family fleeing with suitcases.
“I will never be the same,” he wrote. “This is stressful and I’m getting old feelings back, like I’ve done this before. This does feel like the way it was when and why we left in the 90s. Like my old PTSD I’ve finally fixed is coming back. I literally only just forgot about those ‘always on the edge’ feelings and actually started worrying about things like bbq grills. I’m crying as I’m typing this because all man deserves to worry about ‘bbq grills’ and not f--king war. Hug your loved ones.”
In the next, four-minute video, Maks shares a view of the street from a high-rise balcony. There are more sirens, military trucks and ambulances driving by. He then flips the camera to himself as he fights back tears.
“I want to go back home. I have the way to, I have a different passport and my family is far away,” he says in reference to his wife, fellow DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd and their 5-year-old son, Shai Aleksander. “My friends whose kids and moms and dads are here… they can’t just escape.”
The TV personality then makes a plea to Russians to stand up for what is right and reminds them that in a civilized world, this isn’t how things are done.
“Dear Russians, I know you know me and I know there’s a lot of people currently in Russia watching the news and hearing the propaganda and hearing this complete nonsense,” he adds.
“I’m not at this point someone who is pleading for someone else’s safety from a safe distance. I’m somebody who’s about to go into a bomb shelter because sh-t’s going down.”
That same day, Murgatroyd also took to Instagram to ask followers to pray for her husband. “Today is extremely hard and the next few will be even harder,” she wrote. “My pain is overwhelming and I’m struggling.”
On Feb. 25, following a series of updates on his IG Stories, Maks returned to Instagram with two more videos from that bomb shelter. In the first, he updates followers on the general feeling at the moment.
“I’m not reporting the news, I’m just saying from my experience, people I’m talking to are very aggressively charged and it’s going to be tough,” he says, addressing the fact that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has militarized the country and told the public he will give anyone who wants to fight a weapon.
“If it’s not resolved in a peaceful manner in some way or form in the next day or so or two, I think it’s going to take a turn for much more aggressive actions and a lot more casualties.”
In the second video, Maks reveals he’s decided to stay where he is for now rather than following some of his friends who are travelling to the Ukraine-Poland border in hopes of escape. According to him, that too is an extremely dangerous situation right now. “There is a lot of senseless activity going on outside of war stuff,” he reveals.
Meanwhile, on his Stories, Maks is sharing what appear to be video updates from friends walking on foot next to smoke-filled homes.
“I made a decision not to try to go right now,” Maks added. “I’m just going to be here and I will keep you posted on what’s happening next.”
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