- Former "
Dancing With the Stars " proMaksim Chmerkovskiy shared Instagram video updates fromUkraine . - Sirens could be heard in the background as he spoke about the "scary" situation happening in Kyiv.
Ukrainian-born professional dancer and "Dancing with the Stars" alum Maksim "Maks" Chmerkovskiy is posting live video updates from downtown Kyiv after Putin authorized a full-scale attack on the country.
On Thursday morning in Ukraine, Chmerkovskiy uploaded a video post on Instagram, letting his 757,000 followers know that he was safe for the time being. Downtown Kyiv could be seen in the background of his video, with sirens blaring intermittently as he spoke.
"Everyone was hoping that the finality of the situation would be averted, that there would not be these kinds of aggressive measures," he said. In the video's caption, Chmerkovskiy advocated against war, saying it is "NEVER the answer."
"I will never be the same," he wrote. "This is stressful and I'm getting old feelings back, like I've done this before. This does feel like the way it was when and why we left in the '90s. Like my old PTSD I've finally fixed is coming back."
Chmerkovskiy was born in Ukraine in 1980 when it was still part of the Soviet Union. In 2017, the professional dancer told People Magazine that his family had immigrated to the US in the mid-90s after their family business was burned down. According to People, the Chmerkovskiy family believes it was "a mafia arson attack."
In a second Instagram video shared on Friday, Chmerkovskiy became visibly emotional and tearful as he spoke about staying strong and the friends he knows living in Ukraine.
A few hours later, he shared an update on his Instagram story letting people know he was safe.
"It's tough, it's scary, it's very uneasy and a lot of pressure, but I'm safe," he said. "I have options, I think. The main thing is that I'm safe. Like I said a lot of people are not, and this is very very very real what's happening right now. I'm packed, I'm ready, my hotel has a bomb shelter. We can go there now, but a few of us decided to maybe wait until we hear the sirens and then I'll be down there."
Chmerkovskiy continued: "I'm going to try to keep you guys updated and show you what it's really like. But the reality is it's exactly what it looks like on TV. I hear from my friends that in other towns and cities that things got a lot more real and there's a full military situation going on."
He signed off saying "keep you posted" and held up the peace sign with two fingers.
A representative for Chmerkovskiy declined to add an additional statement at this time, referring Insider back to Chmerkovskiy's video updates as his official comments.
Russia's conflict with Ukraine has been rumbling for years but escalated dramatically in recent weeks. Russia assembled vast numbers of troops around Ukraine — as many as 190,000, per US estimates on February 18 — in the largest military operation in the region since World War II.
On Monday, Putin recognized the claims to independence of the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk areas of Ukraine, ordering troops there for what he described as a limited peace-keeping operation in the east of the country.
Less than 72 hours later, Putin authorized a full-scale attack on Ukraine. In the hours that followed, explosions pounded cities around Ukraine, many hundreds of miles from the previous conflict zone. Ukrainian officials reported fighting on its borders with Russia, and dozens of casualties.
The new wave of hostilities expanded the clash from a limited incursion over disputed land into the most serious armed conflict in Europe for at least a decade.
Insider's live blog of the invasion is covering developments as they happen.