Val Chmerkovskiy was a lot more worried about his older brother, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, than Maks was about himself when there was talk that Russia could invade Ukraine. But then, on Feb. 24, the violence began, and Maks found himself stuck in the country where the brothers were born and where he had been filming the TV show World of Dance UA.
“He called me, and I’d never seen my brother really be that shook,” Val told his former Dancing With the Stars partner, Olivia Jade Giannulli, on Monday’s episode of her Conversations With Olivia Jade podcast. “My brother… he’s a tough dude. And he had tears in his eyes. I mean, he was really scared. The way I’d describe his emotion is, like, it was fear… It was regret, because he was, like, I really messed up. I should have left a little sooner. I don’t know what to do.’ It was fear, regret and then it was sadness.”
Maks began making his way out of the country on Feb. 28, after being arrested. However, he went back to Poland a few weeks later to help with relief efforts, and he used his money to help individuals he met who needed help.
Meanwhile, his family back in New Jersey started an organized way of supporting refugees, thanks to the brothers’ father, who spent much of his younger years in Ukraine.
“He was just angry, restless. Really he was angry that this was happening,” Val said. “He didn’t want to just donate some of his money.”
Aleksandr Chmerkovskiy asked Val to set up some sort of account and promote it for him. Although Val tried to persuade him that there were more efficient ways to help. For instance, how were they going to ship anything? But the father was “relentless.”
Baranova 27 — named for the place Aleksandr grew up — launched in the first days of March. The Chmerkovskiys started a registry at Amazon and created a GoFundMe account, which is currently at more than $245,000, to cover the costs of getting it there. The response was overwhelming.
“We’ve packaged over 210,000 pounds. We’ve shipped out 160,000,” Val said. “I’d say about 60,000 went by air and 100,000 is going by ship.”
Almost immediately, hundreds of volunteers showed up.
“So, listen, I’m not Mila Kunis or Ashton Kutcher,” he said of the superstar couple who have raised more than $35 million for the cause. “I can’t raise $30 million in three weeks, but we’re doing our best. You know, the Ukrainian people and Ukraine… the world is mobilizing against an evil situation in many different ways.”
In his second consecutive appearance on the podcast to address what’s happening in Ukraine, Val had a message for Jade’s younger listeners.
“I just want to encourage young people to understand that this isn’t just about Ukraine,” he said. “This is about your future. You know, collectively. And if we don’t do something about this particular situation here then we’re setting a precedent for it to be done elsewhere as well.”
