When Ukraine native Val Chmerkovskiy met Olivia Jade, his partner for the 2021 of Dancing With the Stars, it went like this:
“Hey, where you from?” she asked him.
“I’m from Ukraine.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s basically near Russia. Yeah, I’m Russian.”
Chmerkovskiy recounted their initial meeting on Tuesday’s episode of Jade’s podcast, Conversations With Olivia Jade.
The host confirmed, “This is a real conversation we had.”
The two reunited amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to talk about the conflict, or at least so he could talk about it. Jade explained at the top of the show that she was essentially handing things off to Chmerkovskiy, who has been documenting his and brother Maksim Chmerkovskiy‘s efforts to support refugees with needed supplies through their Baranova 27 humanitarian fund.
Val Chmerkovskiy, who emigrated to America as a child in 1994, told Jade that because of the way he grew up, in a Ukraine that was part of the Soviet Union, just like Russia, the violence that’s happening now feels especially wrong.
“Ukrainians and Russians are not just neighbors,” he said. “You know, our grandparents lived through the Holocaust together; you know, they fought in World War II together.”
He noted that they celebrated the arts together, too.
“It feels like real betrayal, because these are cities that celebrated Russian artists, and with respect to Russia, Russia celebrated Ukrainian artists,” he said.
Chmerkovskiy said he feels for the people of both countries.
“You know, my sadness is absolutely with the Ukrainian people. Absolutely,” he said. “But it’s also with the Russian people because, unfortunately, these actions are setting that country back and isolating that country.”
For one thing, he said, Russia will be left out of much of the world’s culture.
“I grew up in this country [and] … in every blockbuster thriller, there was always a Russian guy trying to take over the world, and I was always like, ‘Damn. Why is it always gotta be the Russian guy?'” Chmerkovskiy said. “And I feel like there’s been a lot of work that was done in the last, you know, like I said, the last 20 years that finally assimilated Russian culture and tradition into the fabric of the world. … Because there’s a lot of incredible human resources, a lot of incredible talent, a lot of amazing people. And, you know, this, unfortunately, is a huge leap back. It’s not a step back — it’s a leap back for Russia.”
Still, as he put it, there have been positive things to come out of the upsetting turn of events, starting with the outpouring of love and support for Ukraine and its people. He has encountered volunteers of all different backgrounds.
“For me, that’s been kind of the most beautiful thing, you know, is that … it’s easy to rally around a cause that is, you know, touching you personally. It’s much more difficult to take the time and take your hard-earned dollar and donate it or take your time … and volunteer or donate a piece of clothing … you know, rally behind a cause and a country that is very, very far away from you and doesn’t affect you immediately, and it’s a beautiful thing.”
A smaller thing is that the invasion has provided a geography lesson.
“The unfortunate silver lining that came out of this is that people know where Ukraine is,” Chmerkovskiy said. “And not only that, they know the difference” between it and Russia.
