Maksim Chmerkovskiy 'embarrassed' to be ONLY man in train full of women and kids out of Ukraine
The ex-contestant of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy has shared his guilt for escaping from war-torn Ukraine. Appearing on ‘Good Morning America’, he revealed that he had escaped on a train full of women and kids and he was the only man on that train.
The 42-year-old stated: “It's a bit surreal, to be honest. This is a country, you know? And the country is on fire. I get into these crying moments. I can't control it. I cried on the way from the airport. I felt embarrassed the entire ride back because I was the only man on the train amongst all women and children. I feel guilty. I feel bad. I feel shame. I feel upset.”
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According to reports, Chmerkovskiy was in Kyiv because of a television show when Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. Though he initially thought of staying in the country as the war began, he changed his plan after being arrested for breaking curfew. He revealed, “I felt like things got real, and all the sudden I don't actually have all of the things needed to feel safe in this place at all. I'm not built for this at all. I'm just realizing that I'm not at the place where I should be.”
The Ukrainian-American who is a Latin–ballroom dance champion had talked about his time in Kyiv as well as his escape from the city on the train on social media while Putin’s troops attacked Ukraine. He said, “After we took off, I realized that all the people that didn't get in have to now sleep right there in that train station. It's not heated. It's just a giant building. It's cold. I'm dying inside because this is still, you know, very emotional stuff for me. There's kids everywhere, babies everywhere. It's negative temperature.”
On Tuesday, March 1, Chmerkovskiy reached Poland and then boarded the “traumatizing” train to the Polish border before taking a US-bound plane and reuniting with his wife Peta Murgatroyd. Unlike other Ukrainian men, the father of a five-year-old son was not required to stay in the country to fight Russians because of his US citizenship.
Chmerkovskiy was born in Ukraine but he and his brother Val moved to the US with their parents in 1994 and were granted American citizenship. Earlier, before reaching LA, he said on social media, “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,” before slamming Putin: “[Putin] doesn't represent all the Russians. Just want that to be very clear. I don't want there to be hate. I don't want there to be disgust with them as a nation. They're our brothers and sisters. My mom's brother... his family lives in Russia. My grandpa lives in Russia. On the Russia territory. They moved when they had no job, no work, no opportunity to another nearby village basically they are also scraping by.”
“I'm mostly angry. I'm also f****ng angry and p****d.... I came from that place. USSR didn't represent me and I think [Putin] doesn't represent the good ones. We just got to help them and open their eyes. So keep talking, keep using your voice and so will I. I'm getting on a plane. Talk to you from LA,” Chmerkovskiy told his followers in his video post.
