Strictly Come Dancing ’s Nikita Kuzmin has shared a heartbreaking update on his family who are still in war torn Ukraine.
The professional dancer reunited with his grandma in Poland after she escaped the country Ukraine in March.
The 24-year-old, who made his debut on the BBC show last year, took to social media to share his joy at finally seeing his beloved grandmother as she fled the country following the invasion by Russian forces.
He revealed he had met her at a train station in the Polish city of Krakow, and his elderly relative had walked for miles to escape Kyiv amid the devastating Russian invasion.
The Strictly star appeared on Loose Women on Wednesday alongside fellow Strictly Come Dancing professional Graziano di Prima and again touched on his emotional reunion with his grandmother on the Ukraine border.
After Graziano shared details on his upcoming Italian wedding, panellist Janet Street Porter turned to Nikita and asked him about the war in his home country.
He said: “It’s quite heartbreaking and overwhelming with emotions. I never thought I could feel this way about my country.
“When you have family and friends there and you grew up there and you see the streets one which you’ve been walking as a kid just bombed, and bombarded, and unfortunately people died.
“My granny was still there, and luckily after a month she managed to get to the border at Poland – I drove the car from Germany overnight to pick her up. My mother flew from Italy.”
Nikita shared that while his grandmother is now safe, he still has family in Ukraine who are unable to leave.
He explained: “We are not able to take them out because of health conditions, so it’s constantly on my mind.
“I don’t want to make it about myself, it’s nothing about me, it’s about the heroes who are defending our country. It’s all about them, so I’m just praying to god that this is going to end soon.”
Nikita Kuzmin made his debut on Strictly Come Dancing last year, when he was partnered with Tilly Ramsay. He moved from Ukraine to Italy when he was nine to support his sister’s dancing career, and he has voiced his support for the war-torn country on social media
Nikita previously shared with his social media followers that his aunt, grandma and grandpa were still in Kiev, saying he had been “immersed” in the ongoing conflict.
“Although I know I should have been happy for my family, I couldn’t. Just had tears on my eyes, because of how sad the situation is. How many thousands of kids and women doing their absolute best to stay strong,” he wrote.
Nikita said he was watching helplessly as Ukrainian people waited patiently for trains to other destinations, and hoped they reached family members safely.
“I’ve seen people arriving from the border, people waiting for the next train to go somewhere, anywhere in hope that somehow things would be ok, people not knowing what to do, since all what they have known as home, it’s not there anymore,” he added, as he pleaded with his followers to help.
“All of this is as well possible only if we continue to DONATE and HELP in any way possible,” he urged.
“This is nowhere near to be over and the best thing that you can do is help anyhow, just DO SOMETHING.”
