Just hours after Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv was attacked by Russian troops, Maksim Chmerkovskiy took to social media to share his raw feelings about the conflict as it unfolds.
“There’s ALWAYS another way!” Chmerkovskiy captioned a video of himself on Instagram. “WAR is NEVER an answer!”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Expressed His ‘Uneasy’ Feelings of Fear as Ukraine Invades His Home Country.
“I will never be the same,” the Dancing with the Stars pro also said. “This is stressful and I’m getting old feelings back… like I’ve done this before.”
Back in 1994, the Dancing With the Stars alum and his family, including his brother Val Chmerkovskiy, moved from the Eastern European country to the United States, E! reported. More recently, he returned to his native country as a judge for the Ukrainian World of Dance series.
“This does feel like the way it was when and why we left in the 90s,” the caption for the video continued. “Like my old PTSD I’ve finally fixed is coming back.”
He also encouraged all of his fans to “Hug your loved ones.”
The update from Chmerkovskiy came just hours after Russia, under the order of Vladimir Putin, attacked Ukraine’s military infrastructure with airstrikes and tanks.
He also shared another video in which sirens can be heard in the background. He informed viewers that those sirens were coming from vehicles belonging to military personnel.
“Honestly, I’m getting really emotional,” the father of 5-year-old Shai also said. “It’s a little difficult. You know me, you know me I stay strong, and I don’t show it, but I want to go back home…And what I’m realizing is that my friends, whose kids are here and whose moms, dads are here—and elderly people are here, and they can’t just escape.”
“I am not at this point someone who is pleading, you know, for someone else’s safety from a far distance, from a safe distance,” Chmerkovskiy added. “I’m somebody who’s about to go into a bomb shelter because s**t’s going down.”
“Everyone was hoping that the finality of this situation would be averted, that it’s not going to be this kind of aggression, this kind of aggressive measures,” he continued.
He also expressed his desire to be with his family, Peta Murgatroyd and child Shai: “I’m getting really emotional. It’s been a little difficult,” he relayed. “I stay strong, and I don’t show it, but I want to go back home, and I realize that I have the way to. I realize that I have a different passport, and my family’s far away, and what I’m realizing is that my friends whose kids are here, and whose moms, dads are here, and elderly people are here. They can’t just escape.”
Then, the choreographer addressed his Russian followers, encouraging them to speak out against Russian aggression in the region.
“I know there’s a lot of people currently in Russia, that are watching this, that are watching the news, and hearing the propaganda and hearing this complete nonsense that’s been talked about,” he told them.
“I think the Russians need to get up and actually say something because no one’s opinion is being heard. This is all one man’s ambition of something, and however it sounds, however convenient it sounds in Moscow, however comfortable you are, wherever you are in Russia. I just don’t think that this is the right thing, and this is the right steps, and these are the correct actions,” he also expressed.
He shared his worries not only for himself but for those fleeing the conflict. “I’m uneasy. I’m very scared,” he disclosed. “I have a passport, and I have a way out. A lot of people here do not, and it’s f**king nonsense.”
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Before the clip concludes, he showed love to his followers for their support, he called out the Russian government once again for using propaganda to garner support for the attacks. “It’s completely not what is being portrayed to the Russian people in order to justify this invasion,” he explained.
As we watch the full-scale assault on Ukraine and its citizens, it’s terrifying to imagine the burden that native Ukrainians are enduring. It’s heartening to see Chmerkovskiy’s emotional plea as he witnesses the attack on the place he desperately wishes to call home once more.
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