‘DWTS’ Alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy Posts Emotional Video Plea From Kyiv As Emergency Vehicles Roll Through Streets: “I’m Very Scared”

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Ukrainian-born former Dancing With the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy shared multiple videos this morning from the center of Kyiv, where he’s been filming a project called World of Dance UA.The cell phone video begins as an emergency vehicle passes Chmerkovskiy, sirens blaring, as he stands on a balcony overlooking the Maidan, the city square that has for decades been a public gathering place at the center of political activity in the country.

Ukraine was, of course, invaded by Russia last night and explosions were heard in Kyiv overnight.“This is the reality,” he says at one point as the vehicle rolls by, followed by an army truck“I’m in Kyiv, contrary to what I probably should’ve done a while ago,” he sayd, “and not that no one saw this coming, but everybody was hoping that the finality of this situation would be averted, that there wasn’t going to be these kind of aggressive measures.”Chmerkovskiy talks about his friends who live in Kyiv and their families who, unlike him, cannot escape to the United States.“I want to go back home [to the U.S.].

And I realize that I have the way to — I realize that I have a different passport, and my family is far away.”Chmerkovskiy is married to fellow DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd and the couple has a 5-year-old son.A post shared by Maksim Chmerkovskiy (@maksimc)At one point he addresses his fans in Russia directly.“In 2022’s civilized world, this is not the way we do things,” he says to the camera. “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 convenient it sounds in Moscow, however comfortable you are where you are in Russia, I just don’t think this is the right thing.”“I