Former “Dancing with the Stars” pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy has returned to Poland to help aid Ukrainian refugees after expressing guilt for leaving the region.
Former “Dancing with the Stars” pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy has returned to Poland to help aid Ukrainian refugees after expressing guilt for leaving the region.In a Sunday video posted to Instagram from Warsaw, the Ukrainian-American professional dancer announced he has returned to Poland to try and be a “bigger presence” in relief efforts.
Chmerkovskiy spent time at home in Los Angeles after returning to the U.S. on March 2 after fleeing Ukraine. In the past few weeks, he’s also established Baranova 27, an Ukraine humanitarian fund.
In the first two weeks, the fund raised $123,000, and to date has shipped out 134,000 pounds of aid, he said.
“The humanitarian crisis is getting worse, people are getting hurt worse, there are more people hurt, and there are more people affected,” he said during the video.
Chmerkovskiy previously expressed guilt for leaving Ukraine when so many others were unable to do so.
“I feel guilty. I feel bad,” he said in an interview with “Good Morning America” in early March. “I feel ashamed. I feel upset.”
