Dancing with the Stars’s Maksim Chmerkovskiy details ‘traumatic’ journey from Ukraine

Dancer had previously shared videos from a bomb shelter in Kyiv

Dancing with the Stars professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy has made it to Poland after fleeing Ukraine.

The Ukrainian dancer, 42, has been sharing updates from Kyiv ever since Ukraine was invaded by Russia.

Last week, he posted videos from a bomb shelter in Kyiv, telling followers: “Hey everybody, I’m in the bomb shelter, aka a parking lot.”

Chmerkovskiy, who is a father-of-one, has now announced that he has made it safely to Poland.

“I’m in Poland,” he posted on his Instagram story on Tuesday (1 March), with emojis of the Ukrainian and Polish flags and a prayer hands symbol.

He added: “31 hours no sleep, 1.5 hours to arrival. I absolutely have to say this: POLISH PEOPLE ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!

“Thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart and soul.”

In previous posts on his story he described his journey and his experience at train stations with other refugees as “traumatising”.

He said that he witnessed an eight-year-old boy “hysterically crying” and not wanting to be parted from his father, who was staying behind to fight.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Getty Images)

Chmerkovskiy said he heard the boy saying: “If you stay I want to stay too because if they kill you I won’t be able to help.”

Chmerkovskiy began performing with the hit ABC competition Dancing with Stars during season two in 2005 and won the contest in 2014.

Follow The Independent’s live blog on the conflict in Ukraine here.