Val and Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s parents moved them from Ukraine to the United States when the two were children.
Maksim had previously mentioned that his family moved because they knew a war like this would one day occur with Russia.
However, his parents couldn’t have expected that Maksim would be in Ukraine when the war began, a place he was trapped for almost a week as people died all around him.
The Chmerkovskiy family might have left Ukraine, but their love for their home country remained.
Maksim and Val’s father set up massive relief aid for Ukraine
Aleksandr “Sasha” Chmerkovskiy, the father of Val and Maksim from Dancing with the Stars, has set up a donation effort to help the people of Ukraine.
According to reports, over 130,000 pounds of medical, hygiene, and baby supplies were shipped to Ukraine to help the people there.
Sasha set up the charity organization and gave it a personal name.
Baranova 27 was the address where the family lived when his sons were little in Odessa, Ukraine.
Sasha lives in New Jersey and owns a dance studio, Dance With Me, in Fort Lee.
Of the donations, 49,000 pounds were being sent by air to Ukraine. This included 7,600 pounds of goods delivered in Lviv, Ukraine.
Another 85,000 pounds of donations were shipped by sea in four containers, expected to arrive in Gdynia, Poland, by April 20.
Maksim has returned to Poland to help
Not only are supplies headed to Poland, but Maksim has returned there as well to help on the ground.
Maksim said he had suffered from survivor’s guilt for leaving Ukraine, even though he was given no choice. As a result, after spending some time at home in the United States with his wife and son, he returned.
Maksim is now working with the refugees coming into Poland from Ukraine and is helping in fundraising efforts to aid the displaced citizens.
“I’m here in Poland trying to figure out managing this middle part,” Maksim said to his fans on Instagram. “We’re trying to figure out how to be on the ground with the bottleneck situation of items from around the world being processed and going through the border.”
Maksim and his brother Val have also set out a foundation to help Ukrainian dancers escape the country and come to the United States to join an organization they set up.
Dancing with the Stars is on hiatus. The dancing reality competition series should return to ABC in late 2022.