'DWTS' pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy planning return to Ukraine: 'I'm going back to help'
"I spent the last couple of days with survivor's remorse," he said during a recent interview.
LOS ANGELES -- Maksim Chmerkovskiy says he feels "survivor's remorse" since he's been back in the U.S. after spending days documenting the chaos of the Russian invasion from his native country of Ukraine, and he already has plans to return.
During an interview with CNN, the former "Dancing with the Stars" pro said the journey has been difficult to process and already has plans to go back.
"I spent the last couple of days with survivor's remorse, I believe that is what it is called," said the 42-year-old, who was born in Ukraine but came to the U.S. in the 90s with his family. "I'm currently working on an opportunity to go back. Probably sometime next week, I'm going to go back to Poland and join the efforts on the ground and sort of like, want to justify my safe out that way."
Chmerkovskiy was in Kyiv filming a dance show when Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Since then, the dancer has been taking to Instagram to keep his 1.1 million followers updated on what the war-torn country is experiencing.
Chmerkovskiy told Good Morning America's T.J. Holmes that he's aware he's "going through something mentally" after the journey.
"I get into these crying moments. I can't control it. I cried on the way from the airport," said Chmerkovskiy, who returned to Los Angeles last week. "I felt embarrassed the entire ride back because I was the only man on the train amongst all women and children."
Chmerkovskiy is married to dancer Peta Murgatroyd. They share a 5-year-old son named Shai.
