The former `Dancing With the Stars` professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy was in Kyiv filming `World of Dance` when Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine but he managed to board a train and arrived in Poland on Tuesday following a gruelling 23-hour journey.
The 42-year-old star said he is “confused” and “terrified” as he called for people to rally together against Putin, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
In a lengthy video shared to Instagram, he said: “I`m scared, I`m confused, I`m terrified and I just lived through some s*** that I`m going to need a lot of therapy for.
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“But I know this – it`s us little guys against the big guy. I don`t care how big (Russian President Vladimir Putin) is. I don`t care how mean he is. When we`re together, I can see what can happen.”
“We can have a little guy finally win and it will be a joint effort and after that, we can figure out how to make sure that there`s never again one f****** person, one man, who can do whatever he`s doing.”
Currently, a mobilisation order reportedly stops men aged 18-60 from leaving Ukraine so it is unclear how Maksim was allowed to do so.
The dancer admitted the experience of getting to Poland was “like out of a movie”.
He said: “When the train car got packed and packed and it kept getting more and more packed, I was like, hold on. I`m thinking to myself there`s no air. There`s no way that we can travel (this way).”
Chmerkovskiy, who stood at the back of the train so others more in need could have a seat, admitted he feels “guilty” for having escaped the war-stricken region.
He said: “I thought about it, my guilt. I started to think about this and I came up with this analogy.
“In `94, I was put up for adoption and I got adopted by a beautiful, young, vibrant, exciting, forward-thinking country and I fell in love and I left Ukraine in `94 (as) a sad, sad person because I felt like I was getting unrooted. … I was in this new country.
“But I turned around and said, `You know what? This is what I`m going to do.` The 14-year-old Maks, with his family and all the love and support that he had, did stuff and here we are.”
Chmerkovskiy, who has five-year-old son Shai with wife Pete Murgatroyd, had “reconnected” with his native country after years of living in the US and had a “very f****** hard time” leaving this week.
He said: “I`m having a horrible time. I`m having very mixed emotions. I have my friends there, my friends in [the] frontline. … I can`t hear from some of the people. I can`t get in touch with them. I don`t know if they`re dead.”
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