Maxim Chmerkovsky says he is stuck in Kiev

• Former professional of “Dancing with the Stars” Maksim Chmerkovskiy posts Instagram updates from Ukraine.
• Although he lives in the United States, he was in Kiev serving as a judge on their dance competition program.
• He said in a recent video that he is currently staying in Kiev because it is “not safe” to leave.

“Dancing with the Stars” alum Maxim Chmerkovsky said he is currently “stuck” in Kiev after Putin authorized a large-scale attack on the country.

On Thursday, a Ukraine-born professional dancer He started updating his 886K followers on Instagram about his current location and safety in Ukraine. By Friday, Chmerkovsky said he had heard it was “not safe” to move toward the border and try to leave.

“I am safe,” he said. “We were not asked to move and I am only following instructions.” Instagram video. “That’s all I can say.”

Chmerkovsky was born in Ukraine in 1980 and immigrated to the United States with his family in the mid-1990s, according to People magazine. He and his brother, Valentine, pursued their professional dancing career in the United States and eventually became contestants on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” as Reported by Us WeeklyChmerkovskiy temporarily returned to his native Ukraine to work as a judge on their version of the same TV series.

In his Instagram video update, Chmerkovskiy said he was talking to local friends in Ukraine who told him the situation was “absolutely appalling”.

“People are being mobilized. The whole country has been called to war,” he said. “Men, women, boys, those people I was judging a few days ago in dance competitions, go ahead and get weapons and deploy to defend the country.”

“I don’t report the news,” Chmerkovsky continued, adding that she shares his thoughts “from my experience and the people I speak with are powerfully charged.”

His brother, Valentine, and his wife, Peta Murgatroyd, were talking out loud on their respective Instagram accounts, asking fans and followers. “Pray” for Chmerkovskiy’s safe return to his homeland in the United States.

But for now, the professional dancer said he couldn’t even try to go home.

A post shared by Maksim Chmerkovskiy (@maksimc)

“I am currently not trying to leave,” he said on Instagram. “I’m going to stay here. I’ll do my best to make sure I’m as safe as possible, but I’m not moving towards the border right now.”

Chmerkovsky said he was told by his friends that “this is very dangerous and that a lot of senseless activities are taking place outside of war materials” near the border.

On Thursday, a representative of Chmerkovskiy Refuse to add additional statementreferring to the Insider once again to Chmerkovskiy’s video updates as his official comments.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been rampant for years but has escalated dramatically in recent weeks. Russia amassed large numbers of troops around Ukraine. Up to 190,000, US estimates – In the largest military operation in the region since World War II.

on Monday, Putin acknowledged independence demands From the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine, ordering troops there What he described as a limited peacekeeping operation in the east of the country.

After less than 72 hours, Putin authorized a large-scale attack on Ukraine. In the hours that followed, Explosions hit cities across Ukraine, hundreds of miles from the former conflict zone. Ukrainian officials reported battles on its border with Russia, with dozens of casualties.

The direct blog of the invasion from within Covers developments as they occur.