Maksim Chmerkovskiy Prepares to Flee Ukraine After Getting Arrested

The "DWTS" pro gave a sober update from the chaotic streets of Kyiv during a live video posted to his Instagram on Monday.

"The streets are crazy," he says in the video while walking on a road outdoors. "At one point I got arrested, like a foot outside of here," he said gesturing down the street.

"But again all good, promise," Maksim said reassuring his followers. "That was probably the least traumatizing moment in this whole thing as far as Ukraine is concerned, but for me, it was just a reality check."

He did not say why he was arrested or what the circumstances were.

Maksim asked his followers not to panic if he "disappears for a while" while he attempts to escape through the borders. He also sent a message to distant family, saying he really only speaks to his wife Peta Murgatroyd and his parents.

Maksim first began sharing updates from Kyiv last week amid Russia's initial attack on the Ukrainian capital, where he was pinned down. At the time he said he feared heading west to the Polish border after watching videos of Russian tanks "pummeling civilian cars trying to move out of the city."

Sharing another Instagram video from outside his bunker-equipped hotel, he tried to assure fans he was safe — right as an air raid siren began drowning him out.

"I'm safe, I'm really really, I promise, as safe as I can be," he said, even as he panned the camera to show military personnel running through the otherwise-deserted streets.

"A lot of people are asking if I'm making out," he said. "I'm not currently trying to leave, I'm staying here. I'm going to do my best to make sure I'm as safe as possible."

"I'm not moving towards the border currently. I heard it's not safe," he added. "I made a decision not try to go right now."

He expressed fears for many of his friends who were currently fleeing for the Polish border; unlike Ukraine — whose intended membership of the NATO alliance is vehemently opposed by Russia — Poland actually is a member, and thus protected by all other members... including the US.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law across the entire country, mobilizing its 36,000 military reserves and even calling on civilians to take up arms. He also banned all men aged 18-60 from leaving the country.

Maksim confirmed this, and while he falls into that category, he did not confirm if it applied to him or not.

"People are being mobilized, the whole country is being called to go to war," he said. "Men, women, boys, these people that I was judging some days ago in dance competitions, are going forward and getting guns and getting deployed to defend the country."

"To all the incredible men and women of the Ukrainian armed forces, and to the... they've called the mobilization of everyone, so anybody aged 18 to whatever, they can't leave the country. So now it's extended to everyone. It's coming to the point where women are going to start joining and enlisting — and they are."

"This is not an army versus an army while the 'civilians' are sitting by and watching. This is civilians, in regular clothes, in regular cars, are getting into military outfits, grabbing guns and going to the front lines. This is real."

"This nation is not giving up," he added. "They're gonna be fighting... this is gonna get really bad. This is gonna get really bad."

He expressed further fears for the most vulnerable, elderly people just getting over Covid and parents with young children who can't "just get up and run." He said kids were falling ill after being forced to shelter in basements without any heat.

"It's not like you can call an Uber, if you know what I'm saying."

He had one last angry message to the Russian propagandists:

"If anybody out there thinks that Ukraine is doing it to itself, you're f--king misinformed and you need to check your sources. In the case of Russians, you need to check your leadership. Your leadership is rotten and they are lying to you."

Before heading to the bomb shelter, he said he was about to be issued a bulletproof vest.