Dancing With The Stars professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy has shared videos from a bomb shelter in Kyiv amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia began attacking its neighbour early on Thursday (24 February). CCTV cameras caught Russian military vehicles rolling through border force checkpoints as ground troops crossed the Crimea border.
Heavy fighting is underway in Ukraine’s second city as Russian troops entered Kharkiv in the early hours of Sunday morning (27 February).
Chmerkovskiy – who was born in Ukraine and has been in the country amid the ongoing attack – has been posting updates from the capital city on his Instagram, keeping his one million followers up-to-date with the ongoing crisis.
“Hey everybody, I’m in the bomb shelter, aka a parking lot,” said the dancer, who began performing with the hit ABC competition series during season two in 2005. He won the competition in 2014.
“A lot of people here that I don’t want to show. I have no idea what I’m doing and I just don’t want to do something that I shouldn’t,” he continued.
The 42-year-old added: “I’m safe, I’m in a bomb shelter but Kyiv is under a serious attack from what I understand. We had a crazy alarm so we all ran downstairs.
“As soon as I know something concrete that I check out, I’ll throw it on my feed. Stay tuned but just pray for Ukraine.”
The dancer also called out actor Kirstie Alley over her since-deleted tweet about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chmerkovskiy danced with Alley on season 12 of Dancing With The Stars in 2011.
