{"id":1004164,"date":"2022-02-25T17:27:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T17:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/02\/25\/maks-chmerkovskiy-gives-update-from-ukraine-the-situation-is-pretty-dire\/"},"modified":"2022-02-25T17:27:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T17:27:46","slug":"maks-chmerkovskiy-gives-update-from-ukraine-the-situation-is-pretty-dire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/02\/25\/maks-chmerkovskiy-gives-update-from-ukraine-the-situation-is-pretty-dire\/","title":{"rendered":"Maks Chmerkovskiy gives update from Ukraine: ‘The situation is pretty dire’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Maks Chmerkovskiy said he’s “safe” in Kyiv but warned of a “dire” situation in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. File Photo by Phil McCarten\/UPI | License Photo<\/div>\n
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Feb. 25 (UPI) —<\/span> Maks Chmerkovskiy is giving an update from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The Dancing with the Stars<\/i> pro, 42, said in a video Friday that he’s “safe” in Kyiv but warned of a “dire” situation in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.\n<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

“I’m out here, again, I’m safe. We haven’t been told to move, and I’m just following instructions. That’s all I can say,” Chmerkovskiy said. “But the reality is that I’m also talking to my friends that are here, the Ukrainians, and the situation is pretty dire.”<\/p>\n

Chmerkovskiy said “people are being mobilized” in Ukraine and that “the whole country is being called to go to war.”<\/p>\n

“Men, women, boys … are going forward and getting guns and getting deployed to defend the country,” he said.\n<\/p>\n

Chmerkovskiy said in a second video that he is “not currently trying to leave” Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

“I’m gonna do my best to make sure that I’m as safe as possible, but I’m not moving towards the border currently. I heard it’s not safe,” he said.\n<\/p>\n

Chmerkovskiy, who is Ukrainian-American, was staying at a hotel in Kyiv when the Russian invasion began earlier this week. He said Thursday that he will “never be the same” after living through the experience.<\/p>\n

Chmerkovskiy’s wife, fellow Dancing with the Stars<\/i> pro Peta Murgatroyd, asked for prayers for Chmerkovskiy in an Instagram post Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Please pray that he comes home soon… Please pray that he has a swift, safe exit,” Murgatroyd wrote. “I have FAITH. I have HOPE and I have PRAYED so hard. Please pray for Ukraine and the innocent civilians who’s lives are being greatly uprooted.”<\/p>\n

NATO leaders and heads of member states attended an emergency meeting Friday to address the latest developments in the invasion.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n