A former Strictly Come Dancing star has shared a lengthy statement after receiving backlash over her Ukraine invasion tweets.
Kristina Rihanoff was slammed on Twitter after she criticised the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden as others condemned the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued.
The Russia-born dancer was told she had been 'insensitive' in the wake of the invasion over her string of tweets.
One saw her hit out at Sky News for reporting on Eurovision banning Russia from taking part in the upcoming song contest.
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However, Kristina has since apologised for the comments and clarified that she does not support Mr Putin or the invasion.
In a Twitter statement on Sunday, she wrote: "I made fun of Eurovision tweet by Sky. I did think there was far more important information on that day that Eurovision. This is in any form says I was supporting what’s happening at the moment between Russia & Ukraine.
"It’s absolutely devastating for someone like me who’s grandad from Ukraine and I have Ukrainian name to my daughter – Milena. My best friend is also from Ukraine. I grew up with knowledge that we were one nation and one country.
"I’m not into politics and hate politicians because they all lie."
She continued: "The awful thing is that there is casualties on both sides and on both sides mums & dads will cry for their lost relatives.
"The point is that this shouldn’t ever taken place, never should have happened. The country leaders should have found the way a long time ago to sort this peacefully but they didn’t because war is profitable business and someone unfortunately making profit on this."
The dancer then stated: "I’m not supporting Putin, war, invasion, lost lives and politics. I hate it as much as a human being possibly can. If I offended anyone it wasn’t my intention and I’m deeply sorry."
Kristina left Russia 22 years ago and is now an American citizen.
She added: "So you can hate me if this will give you comfort but if I didn’t say something you wanted me to say it’s because sadly I’m powerless doing anything to help anyone in both countries and I don’t believe in useless posts which can’t help to safe lives.
"I can only hope and pray like everyone that this is over soon. And it’s really sad that the hate is so powerful everywhere you look at the moment. The whole world is burning in it."
Other Strictly stars also found themselves in a row over Ukraine.
One of the show's most vocal stars - ex-professional James Jordan - sparked the row with a tweet that he was "very disappointed" at some of the Russian dancers he'd worked with over the years not speaking out against the invasion.
James then became involved in a heated exchange with head judge Shirley Ballas, who denied his remarks and suggested that many dancers she knew had tweeted their support.
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