Maksim Chmerkovskiy has worked hard to help Ukraine residents after the Russian invasion.
He was stuck in Ukraine when Russia invaded the country and wasn’t able to escape for almost a week.
After returning home, Maksim went back to Poland to help set up relief efforts to aid the refugees entering the country to escape the warzone.
He has also set up ways to get people out of Ukraine as well as setting up fundraising efforts to assist the people.
However, something he recently said didn’t make him look as good, especially to the people thinking they are doing what they can to help the refugees.
Maksim calls out people for donating hand me downs to Ukraine
Maksim and his brother Valentin run a charity called Baranova27, which helps Ukrainian refugees. The name is the street address where they grew up in Ukraine.
It is a volunteer initiative in New Jersey that sends items to help those refugees. It is a great operation and does a lot of good.
However, Maksim noticed something that bothered him, and he spoke out about it. In an appearance on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast, he said that people were just clearing out their closets and thinking that would help the refugees.
“Who are you helping? You’re talking about people who lived a very successful life in a European country that have now fled,” Maksim said. “And you are saying, ‘here you go, you’re welcome,’ with something so degrading. You’re not helping with the process. You’re hurting.”
Maksim shared a clip on his Instagram page and wrote, “I’m just being honest. Always. And with all due respect.”
What did Maksim really mean here?
There were a lot of people who felt that the clip made Maksim sound pompous and that he was ridiculing people who sent clothes to help Ukrainians.
That is not what he meant at all, as anyone who listened to more than the sound clip would know.
When Maksim said people were sending clothes from their closets and hand-me-downs, he didn’t mean that sending clothes was bad.
Maksim mentioned that many items of clothing sent to Ukraine for refugees had holes in them, were worn out, and were mostly unwearable.
Maksim said he just wants people to respect the refugees when sending donations and not just send clothes that otherwise would end up in the trash.
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