'Dancing with the Stars' alum Peta Murgatroyd prays for husband Maks Chmerkovskiy's safe return from Ukraine
Feb 25, 2022
Washington [US], February 25 : 'Dancing with the Stars' alum Peta Murgatroyd is asking for prayers for her husband Maks Chmerkovskiy, who remains in Ukraine amid the rapidly unfolding Russian-Ukraine crisis.
As per People Magazine, Chmerkovskiy, a Ukrainian-born dancer, and Murgatroyd wed in 2017. The couple shares a five-year-old son Shai.
Murgatroyd,35, shared on Instagram, "Please pray for my husband Maks. I don't usually ask these things from my social media network, however, today is extremely hard and the next few will be even harder."
"My pain is overwhelming and I'm struggling, but you sending your positive light and love to him would mean the world to me. Truly, I wish for nothing more," she continued in her message to fans and followers.
"Many of you are asking for details and I don't have the answers, but yes, he is safe right now. Please pray that he comes home soon. Please pray that he has a swift, safe exit," Murgatroyd wrote. "I have FAITH. I have HOPE and I have PRAYED so hard."
The dancer concluded, "Please pray for Ukraine and the innocent civilians who's lives are being greatly uprooted. I grew to love this country the couple of times I visited and they're in an unfathomable situation."
Her husband, 42, responded in her comments section with a teary-eyed emoji and a red heart emoji.
Murgatroyd's post after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences they have never seen."
Previously, on Thursday, Chmerkovskiy shared his "emotional" experience from near the centre of Kyiv in a post on Instagram. There, he could be seen standing on a balcony in the country's capital as military sirens could be heard from the streets below.
"I'm in Kyiv, contrary to what I probably should've done a while ago ... and not that no one saw this coming, but everybody was hoping that the finality of this situation would be averted, that there wasn't going to be these kind of aggressive measures," the dancer said.
In a second video, the 'Dancing with the Stars' alum is seen tearing up as he pans the camera to show the "reality" of the situation and the nearby city centre.
Later in the day, he posted another update and shared more videos in which he was seen standing outside at night.
"The main thing is that I'm safe. But like I said, a lot of people are not, and this is very, very, very real, what's happening now," he said. "I'm packed, I'm ready, my hotel has a bomb shelter. We can go there now, but the few of us decided to maybe wait until we hear the sirens and then we'll be down there. I'm going to try and 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."
