“Dancing With the Stars” pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy confirmed on his Instagram story that he has made it out of Ukraine and into Poland. The dancer and television personality also described his “traumatizing” train ride to Poland, which included being crammed into an overstuffed train cabin that he described as “sweaty and claustrophobic.”
“I made it on the train,” Chmerkovskiy wrote. “We’re heading to Warsaw, hopefully. Train to Lviv was not an option. The situation at the train station is insane. At first it feels manageable but it gets a lot worse when it comes time to actually board the train. Long story but all I can say now is that I’m a big man with nothing but a backpack and it’s traumatizing.”
“Currently, I’m in a cabin with four adults and 7 kids (ages 2-11) which usually is only occupied by a maximum of three people,” Chmerkovskiy continued. “There’s usually up to 30 people in this particular wagon. We were told we have to fit 135. Walkways are packed. People everywhere. It’s sweaty and claustrophobic.”
Chmerkovskiy, who was born in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, was in his home country ahead of the Russian invasion working on a project titled “World of Dance UA.” In the days since Russia invaded Ukraine, Chmerkovskiy used Instagram to keep fans updated on his safety in the country. In a Feb. 28 video post, the dancer said he was arrested in the streets and was preparing to get to the border to leave Ukraine. Chmerkovskiy made it to Poland on March 1.
“What finally broke me is when I was watching an eight-ish year old boy hysterically crying and not wanting to let go of his father,” Chmerkovskiy added about his train ride. “Verbatim: ‘If you stay, I want to stay too because if they kill you I won’t sleep.’”
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