BBC Strictly Come Dancing professional Nikita Kuzmin has shared his heartbreak and worry about his grandmother who's trapped in Ukraine.
The 23-year-old, who joined the BBC entertainment show in 2021 and danced with Tilly Ramsey, spoke to Lorraine on Thursday, March 3 about his heartbreak over the current situation in his home country.
The professional dancer - who grew up in Ukraine before moving to Italy aged nine - is currently based in Germany and joined Lorraine via live link where he spoke of his grandma who is stuck in Ukraine.
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Nikita made an appearance on the ITV morning show just minutes after journalist Rohit Kachroo had been giving Lorraine an update from the capital of Kyiv.
When Nikita first joined he said: "It's absolutely heartbreaking and now seeing the reports from Kyiv, honestly I'm just trying to contain myself, drink a bit of water and recompose."
"At the same time it's so inspiring and to see the Ukrainain people fighting. The Russian army are not only fighting the Ukrainian army, it's fighting against the whole of Ukraine and everyone is coming together just to defend our country."
Lorraine asked the dancer: "Have you been able to talk to your grandmother? Are you still able to get her on the phone and how is she doing?"
"Yes, luckily, we still have connection to her, so we are video calling her all the time," he replied: "She's actually trying to protect us from being scared and every time we can hear gunshots or explosions in the background, she's always telling us it's a movie which she's put on the TV and only afterwards - a couple of hours later - she's confessing actually that those were real bombs and real gunshots and that's incredibly scary."
Nikita also said it was "heartbreaking" to see the streets where he grew up being bombed. He added: "I recognise the streets and just now see them being bombed, went over by tanks, fighting on the streets... It's wrong on so many levels."
Lorraine asked what the British public could do to help and Nikita replied that there are a few things he would "love to say".
He asked for people to donate to the National Bank of Ukraine and items such as clothes, batteries, power-banks at their local drop off points.
"You can help and we need help," He said as he called on the government he said: "Please help us cover the sky... They're bombing everything right now including hospitals, maternity houses and schools, now also TV and internet stations to try and disconnect us from our families. We need help."
Lorraine airs weekdays on ITV from 9am.
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