Dancing with the Stars professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy has returned to Europe just over three weeks after fleeing Ukraine amidst Russia’s ongoing attacks. The dancer left his home country on a train at the beginning of the month and now, the 42-year-old has returned to help aid his people from Poland.
Maksim recently took to Instagram to share an update from his base in Warsaw.
Taking to Instagram Live, Maksim shared an emotional update for his 1.2 million followers.
The dancer and choreographer, who was born in Odesa, Ukraine, has been keeping fans updated on the continuous devastation in his homeland via his social media.
He explained that he, his brother, and his father have started a philanthropic organization.
“My father and my brother [ Val Chmerkovskiy ], together with a lot of people that we work with all the time, that we’re just friends with, and with the help of whom, we’ve started our organization, Baranova 27,” Maksim explained.
Baranova 27 is the address where Val, his brother and their father were born in Odesa, Ukraine,
Maksim then made a devastating plea to all of his followers, begging them not to stop supporting his country.
“Right now, we’re getting a little bit hungover, people are getting tired. And this is the time, that I would like to ask everybody to realize that it didn’t not end or slow down, it got worse in Ukraine.”
“Humanitarian crisis is getting worse,” the husband and father continued.
“People are getting hurt worse. There are more people hurt, and there are more people affected. I would really, really like for you guys to give yourself a day off.”
“Tune out, go to church, spend time with your family,” he continued.
“Do your thing. But please, come back to us and come back to realization that a lot of people still need our help, and we should continue providing this support, because we now showed Ukraine as a world, that we can all do it together, and we have to continue probably doing that.”
To find out more about how to support those in Ukraine through Baranova 27, please visit here .