Maksim Chmerkovskiy Of 'Dancing With The Stars' Shares Video From Ukraine Following Russian Invasion
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – "Dancing with the Stars" pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy Thursday morning posted emotional messages to social media from his native Ukraine after Russia began its military invasion.
Standing on a balcony in Kiev, a visibly shaken and emotional Chmerkovskiy described the pain of the situation.
"You know me, I stay strong, and I don't show it," the 42-year-old said. "But I want to go back home. And I realize that I have the way to. I realize that I have a different passport, my family is far away. What I'm realizing that is that my friends, whose kids are here, whose moms, dads are here, and elderly people are here, and they can't just escape."
Russia Wednesday launched what Ukraine called a "full-scale invasion," with reports of shelling and ballistic military strikes, according to CBS News. Ukraine officials said that dozens of its soldiers have been killed.
"Not that no one saw this coming, but everyone was hoping that the finality of this situation would be averted," Chmerkovskiy said.
It was unclear from the video if he was planning to depart Ukraine immediately.
"Dear Russians, I know you know me, and I know there's a lot of people currently in Russia that are watching this, that are watching the news, that are hearing the propaganda, that are hearing the complete nonsense that's been talked about," Chmerkovskiy added. "I am not at this point someone whose been pleading for someone else's safety from a far distance, from a safe distance. I'm somebody whose about to go into a bomb shelter, because s--- going down."
