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Maks Chmerkovskiy Shares New Updates from Ukraine, Says Situation is ‘Pretty Dire’
Greta Bjornson – February 25, 2022
Maksim Chmerkovskiy is sharing another update from inside Ukraine.
The Ukrainian-born dancer, 42, posted two videos to Instagram Friday from the capital of Kyiv saying he was safe, but warning of an increasingly serious situation following Russia’s invasion the day prior.
“I’m out here, again, I’m safe. We haven’t been told to move, and I’m just following instructions. That’s all I can say,” Chmerkovskiy began the first clip. “But the reality is that I’m also talking to my friends that are here, the Ukrainians, and the situation is pretty dire.”
He went on to warn that “people are being mobilized” in Ukraine, explaining, “the whole country is being called to go to war. Men, women, boys … are going forward and getting guns and getting deployed to defend the country.”
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While he made clear that he does not “represent everybody” in Ukraine and is “not reporting the news,” he said that people “are very aggressively charged,” adding, “this is gonna be tough.”
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Chmerkovskiy continued, “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 gonna take a turn for very, very much more aggressive actions and a lot more casualties.”
The Dancing with the Stars alum detailed how children and the elderly are being affected by the invasion, explaining, “There are kids that are getting sick, people are sheltering and people that aren’t able to just get up and run, right: small children, elderly people. This is like it is in every conflict, I’m just drawing attention to the fact that this is what’s happening.”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Instagram
He added, “Some of my friends kids’ got sick overnight, last night. Some of my friends can’t leave because they have some people that are old that [are] just coming over this COVID nonsense that was happening.”
Chmerkovskiy closed out his video by promising more updates, telling his followers, “I’ll say some stuff when I’ll be able to.”
In the second video, he clarified that he was “not currently trying to leave” Ukraine, explaining, “I’m not moving towards the border … it’s, I heard, not safe.”
Chmerkovskiy’s latest post comes after he shared a series of videos to Instagram Thursday, also filmed in Kyiv amidst the Russian invasion. The dancer showed footage of the city streets with sirens sounding in the background and became emotional as he discussed the conflict.
“The main thing is that I’m safe. But like I said, a lot of people are not, and this is very, very, very real, what’s happening now,” he said in one clip. “I’m packed, I’m ready, my hotel has a bomb shelter. We can go there now, but the few of us decided to maybe wait until we hear the sirens and then we’ll be down there.”
Russia began an invasion of Ukraine earlier this week, according to the Ukraine government, with forces moving from the north, east and south. The attack is still-evolving but explosions and airstrikes have been reported, with threats mounting against the capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people.
Numerous residents have been seen trying to flee. “We are facing a war and horror. What could be worse?” one 64-year-old woman living in Kyiv told the Associated Press.
President Vladimir Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine has been widely condemned by the international community, including with economic sanctions and NATO troops massing in the region. Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” President Joe Biden said as the invasion appeared to begin in force this week.