Maksim Chmerkovskiy Shares Updates As He Leaves Ukraine For Poland

Maksim Chmerkovskiy, dancer and TV judge who was known as a pro dancer for Dancing With The Stars, has shared another video update on the status of his attempts to get out of Ukraine while the country has been invaded by Russian forces as finally leaves the country for Poland.

Chmerkovskiy was in Kyiv on Thursday when the unprovoked attacks began, and has been sharing personal stories of his experience in the city, and using his platform to draw attention to the horrors of the attack that have already occurred. Chmerkovskiy’s most recent update, which was uploaded early Monday morning, saw the dancer give an update on people who are fleeing to the Polish border, other friends that were gathering to volunteer to fight, and his personal experience getting arrested in Kyiv during the craziness.

On the arrest, he just said, “At one point, I got arrested, like a foot outside of here.” He joked that the arrest was “probably the least traumatizing moment in this whole thing,” but it was still a “reality check” for him. He finally said that he was going to be making an attempt to flee the country soon. “I have options. My options are better than most people’s, unfortunately,” the dancer admitted. He said online that he will try to share the process as much as he can, but that they should not worry if he “disappears for a while.”

Chmerkovskiy’s last personal video came after a tough weekend of fighting between the two countries. Through the weekend Chmerkovskiy showed several examples of Ukrainian resistance in video clips posted online, and other images showing solidarity for Ukrainians or exposing the horrors of innocent people being killed. In another video uploaded Sunday, Chmerkovskiy seemed particularly emotional as he said he was in “the eye of the storm” as the fighting grew closer to him. “It’s insane, and I am losing my, my final little things … as I said I’m safe, but I’m starting to not be able to, um, to keep my head.”