Maksim Chmerkovskiy's Friends Defend 'DWTS' Star Fleeing Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion, Claim He 'Had No Duty' To Stay And Fight
Maksim Chmerkovskiy's friends are coming to the dancer's aid clapping back against claims the dancer is a "coward" for leaving Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
Recently, the Ukrainian Dancing with The Stars alum left the country to return to the states to reunite with his wife Peta Murgatroyd, and family.
The DWTS dancer was in Kyiv filming World of Dance Ukraine as news broke of Vladimir Putin's ordered Russian soldier to invade.
Chmerkovskiy posted videos declaring that he was still in the country as the invasion started. He was then arrested for being seen outside of curfew. After being released from police custody, he took a train out of the country and reunited with his family back in the states.
Chmerkovskiy was not obligated to stay and fight against the Russian invasion due to the dancer renouncing his citizenship back when he was 14 years old in 1994. The now 42-year-old dancer has been a legal American citizen ever since.
Criticism still arose after news broke of the DWTS alum leaving the conflict with some going as far as to call the former Ukrainian a "coward" or "traitor."
The dancer even spoke out about feeling "guilty" admitting to leaving the country on a train filled with women and children.
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Friends of Chmerkovskiy reportedly spoke out in his defense telling Daily Mail, "Maks is not a Ukrainian citizen, he’s an American citizen. It was not an option for him to just 'stay and fight.'" They continued clarifying, "The narrative of evading any duty to Ukraine is simply not accurate."
The dancer made the rounds on the news to claim that it wasn't even his choice to be evacuated. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Chmerkovskiy claimed that he had been "bombarded by sources" including military personnel telling him he would be the first to be evacuated when Putin struck and that he had "no choice" but to leave.
Ukraine does not believe in dual citizenship and view Chmerkovskiy as an American despite being born in the war-torn European nation.
The dancer claims to have fallen back in love with his home country and even claims to be going back to Poland next week to help with relief efforts. Til then, he is raising money online and his family in New Jersey are raising money and packaging relief for refugees.