Maks Chmerkovskiyis sharing his “emotional” experience from near the center of Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Ukrainian-born dancer, 42, posted a series of videos to his Instagram Thursday afternoon local time, in which he isstanding on a balconyin the country’s capital as military sirens can be heard from the streets below.
“I’m in Kyiv, contrary to what I probably should’ve done a while ago … 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 says of theRussian invasion that recently began to unfold.
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“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 is far away,” continues Chmerkovskiy, who is married to fellowDWTSproPeta Murgatroydand shares one child, 5-year-old sonShai Aleksander, with her.
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Chmerkovskiy goes on to plead with Russian forces to cease conflict, as he is “about to go into a bomb shelter because s—’s going down.”
“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.”
Maks Chmerkovskiy.Maks Chmerkovskiy/ instagram
In a televised address, Putin said the operation is to “demilitarize” Ukraine and that Ukrainian servicemen who put down their arms will be able to safely leave the combat zone, per theAssociated Press. He also issued a warning to anyone who tried to intervene, saying they “must know that Russia’s answer will be immediate, and will lead to such consequences as you never experienced in your history,” according toThe New York Times.
Chmerkovskiy says in his video footage, “I’m uneasy, I’m very scared … but I do know, at the very least, I have a chance. I have a passport and a way out. A lot of people here do not, and it’s f—ing nonsense.”
“And it’s completely not what is being portrayed to the Russian people in order to justify this invasion,” he continues.
“It’s not what’s important right now,” Chmerkovskiy says. “I’m gonna do my best to try and keep you informed. I’m not a journalist — I have absolutely no reason to do this other than I just want an opinion of someone else, ‘cause news is crazy and the reports have been insane. Love you all.”
He captioned his first post, “There’s ALWAYS another way! WAR is NEVER an answer!#standwithukraineP.S. I will never be the same. 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. Likemy 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—ing war. Hug your loved ones.”
With Russia’s invasion now fully underway,Ukrainian officials saidforces were crossing from the north, south and east in a still-evolving attack. The first explosions were reportedly heard around 5 a.m. Thursday and airstrikes have since occurred in multiple cities, including Kharkiv, Kramatorsk and the capital of Kyiv, the Associated Press reported.
Ukrainian officials saidat least 40 peoplehad been killed already with several injuries in what Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called a “full-scale” invasion of the country, according to the AP and other reports.
source: people.com
