Conversations with Val Chmerkovskiy

on Dancing with the Stars. He was born in Ukraine and he has been doing a lot to help those that are in need in Ukraine right now, and it's something that you know, a little a little can go a long way, and so I want him to come on and talk to you guys about what's happening, how you can help with you've been curious and um just get a little history lesson on why and how this is all going down. So with that being said, he's

welcomed out. What's somebody? How are you good? I'm I'm very excited for this episode for the I mean, most people are going to be listening to this, but if you do see on social media, like the little clips, you'll see where Val is right now. And this episode is very important because fall is from Ukraine. He was my partner on Dancing with the Stars. Everything that's going on right now is very near and dear to his heart.

And I kind of want to let you take it away and explain whatever it is you think people should know the history how to help what you're doing where you are. And I'm going to shut up because I don't know anything. So well, first of all, thank you for having me, thank you for giving me a chance to talk to your audience. I would, and I mean

that I would all due respect. I would hope that people are learning in history books, you know, the things you know, world history, not just American history obviously brainwasher. This conflict Eastern Europe in general and especially in the last century, you know, that's that's world history, you know. And uh, I'm just gonna get into it. Ukraine and

Russia have been neighbors, have been brothers in arms. I'm not gonna go extensive history of like Kivs Carouse, which is you know, kind of the empire was one under the key of empire a few world back back in the day. But let's just talk about the last you know, let's say a hundred years. Uh, there was a union called Soviet Union, right, and it was fourteen republicans that were under under the same flag, um and Ukraine and Russia being part of it. Now the Russian language was

then the main language of all of these republics. Now that included Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania. A lot of the you know countries that we're very individual, have their own individual history that decided to unite together under let's say a common cause, but by no means that they become one country. They yes, for that time they were let's say, one nation under the flag of the Soviet Union, but

they have extensive individual history and their own languages. Uh. And so in just fast forward in nineteen nine and started it was official that the Soviet Union fell apart, and all these republics gained their own independence. And in the last thirty years these republics, with this new found independence, a lot of them adopted you know, democratic principles. And with those democratic principles came also a lot of pride and developing and now adopting back their their history, which is,

you know, their own language. Let's start with that. Now that didn't complicate things. I am a product of with some would at the moment consider a complicated situation. It's not a company get a situation. I am from Ukraine. I'm from a Ukraine. I speak Russian. I speak Russian because that was the language that I at the time, when I was born, a long, long time ago, was still part of the Soviet Union. So I learned Russian because that was the you know, the language that everybody learned.

A lot of people in my city speak Russian, a lot of them Ukrainian, a lot of them speak Yiddish because they were of Jewish descent. It's a melting pot city, you know, just like you know, you go to New York City. There's a lot of dialects, but it's still New York City, which is part of the New York State, which is part of America. UH. Anyway, the point is that all of these republics had the right to pursue their own independence in the democratic fashion, and that's what

they did. In Ukraine, because we are speaking about Ukraine, did just that. And there were a lot of growing pains right in the nineties were really difficult time for all of these republics, particularly Ukraine Russia as well. UH. But in two thousands and and now in the last decade with a new generation of kids that that are now united by the Internet and then the world kind of shrinking, but we're all adopting each other's cultures were all.

You know, your generation especially is becoming you know, it's kind of leading the this this storm leading the way on kind of like not being divided, united by you know, just the humanity of it. So um, I mean, that's why this is so sad because you know, Ukrainians and Russians and not just neighbors, you know, are great. Our grandparents lived through the Holocaust together. They you know, they

fought in World War Two together. The Soviet Union lost twenty seven million people in World War Two, seven million people that included not just Russians, that included Ukrainians and Bela Russians and Lithuanians, Estonians and Armenians and everybod I just mentioned. You know, we all fought in that war. And so for you know, some of these grandparents haven't died yet. For them to see the situation that's happening

is heartbreaking, you know. And so that's just kind of the history of I guess, you know, just because there's so much propaganda and fake news and misleading news, if you will. Uh. And I'm the type of person that always tries to see every angle, right. I think it's important, you know, there's never just one side to a debate. I think it's important to also be empathetic enough to see what the other side is thinking, of feeling, or wanting. But I think in this particular case is it's kind

of very clear. I have to confront my elasticity sometimes as well and be like, no, bro, listen, there's also some things that are right and some things are wrong. This is an unprovoked invasion by a neighbor that feels not just invasive, it feels it feels like betrayal, you know, it feels like real betrayal because these are cities that celebrated Russian artists and and would with respect to Russia, Russia celebrated Ukrainian artists. You know, it's they were It's hard,

you know. I'll give you my example. You know, I immigrated to America ninety four, um, and for a long time, you know, even with you, you were like, hey, where are you from from Ukraine? Where is that? I'm like, it's basically near Russia, you know. So you're right, Yeah, I'm Russia. You speak Ukrainian, No I speak about Okay, you're right. You know, this is a real conversation we had, you know, and the truth is, no, I I'm I'm

Russia speaking Ukrainian. And now more than ever, you know, the unfortunate silver line and they came out of this is now people know where Ukraine is, and not only that,

they know the difference. And you know, my sadness is apps salutely with the Ukrainian people, absolutely, but it's also with the Russian people because unfortunately, these actions are setting that country back and isolating that country, you know, and it's going to be a long time, but the sanctions and everything, you know, it's for the first time in

a long time. You know. I grew up in this country, uh, you know, and every blockbuster thriller, you know, there's always a Russian guy trying to take over the world, and and I was always like, damn, I has always got to be the Russian guy. Um And you know, and I feel like there's done a lot of work that was done in the last you know, like I said, twenty years that finally assimilated Russian culture and tradition into

into the fabric of the world. And because there's a lot of incredible human resource, there's inquiring a lot of incredible talent, a lot of amazing people. And you know, this, unfortunately is h is a huge leap back. It's not a step back, it's a lead back for Russia. And and in the most obvious way, it is absolutely devastating for Ukraine. Um. But on the flip side, the way

it has rallied the world behind this country. And you know, I'm sitting in Portly, New Jersey, a largely Korean neighborhood, you know, with with Eastern Europeans and Italians and the Spanish community and the Black community, and you know, we we this is right outside of New York City, and it's a microcosm of what this country is all about. And the volunteers that are coming into UH into this initiative that we found at here are every single color

of all ages. This is not a scoulsive East Europeans that are coming to help. It's thousands of people from you know, like I said, all different cultures. And you know, for me, that's been kind of the most um the most beautiful thing is that you know, it's it's easier to rally around a cause that is you know, touch

to you personally. Uh, it's much more difficult to take the time and and and take your hard earned dollar and donate it, or take your time again and volunteer or donate a piece of clothing or you know, rally behind a cause and a country that is very very far away from you, you know, and and doesn't affect you immediately. It's it's a beautiful thing that they you know,

it's I said this to somebody. You know, I haven't felt this type of you know, I put I put up a flag on my car two times in my life because you know, as bravado and extra as I can be sometimes, you know, this type of patriotism I've only felt twice in my life, you know, I mean many times. But like again, I never went as far as putting a flag up my car. It was after

no eleven, after not eleven here driving around the city. Uh. You know I had the American flag with pride, and and now after this I have you know, I have the Ukrainian flag driving around the standardas so. Um, it is the incredible situation that we're in and I hope you know, yet again, it is the youth. It's it's your generation, it's our generation. I guess in some regard that has the power to really spread the word. Uh, you know, I don't want to you know, I don't

wanna encourage bullying each other. I don't want any you know,

further animosity. I just want kids to kind of open their eyes and and and do their due diligence and if they have the time, maybe maybe you know, kind of research and and do their best to to help because again, uh, you know, today it's Ukraine, Tomorrow it's it's going to be somewhere else, and you know, we have to be really you know, we have to just really work hard to make sure that we're not going backwards and that the next generation is living in a

world that you know, you're not bombing cities and uh, you know, kindergartens and and kids aren't living in bomb shelters. It was really personal besides me, you know, looking at my heritage in my birthplace and wanting to do something. You know, my brother was in Key of when the invasion started, and uh, you know, we're all really nervous obviously, and he was petrified. We talked about it, and you know,

he was grateful to get out. But you know he's now right back at the Polish border trying to do, you know, whatever he can. He's we'll get into where I am and what we're doing, uh as far as you know, our resources. But yeah, there is a lot of sadness still, you know, because it's good that you know, we're safe here in the privilege of living in this country, but you know, there are a lot of our friends and family and peers that are in Ukraine right now

that are, like I said, in bomb shelters. And I think we're getting a little you know, used to hearing that word, and we're kind of like, okay, cool, No, No, Like you don't know, you don't understand what that is. That means you don't have a home and you have to hide in the shelter with with nothing there, there's nothing. It's not like you're swiping through your you know, Internet, and the tension and the fear, you know, so, uh, we wanted to do something, you know, I don't I

don't you know. Um, It's crazy to me the courage that it takes for a fellow dancer yesterday, we're you know, we're competing at a dance competition today. He you know, he picked up an A K forty seven and he's you know, patrolling his story like like, that's not I don't know if that's the kind of life we wanna

have in this world. You know, I don't know if that should be a reality for anybody that's a young man trying to you know, one thing, my mom says like, you know, well this was a couple of weeks ago, you know, but she was like, you know, the war has been going on for now ten days. You know, just eleven days ago, these kids went to bed like nervous about their test that's coming out, you know, they

were excited about maybe their wedding day coming up. They were grieving, you know, some sort of pain, or they were nervous about something else. So they were dreaming about getting into their I don't know, like accomplishing that thing that they always wanted, you know, or excited to go on that date with that boy that they finally asked

them out. And literally overnight, just all of that shatters, and all of that shatters immediately and for the foreseeable future, and I just you know, sometimes we look at things on TV and is devastating, but we can't understand it, you can't feel it. And when you kind of like everyday humanize the topic that the subject matter, I think it hits home a little bit more, you know, realizing that, like these are old people that do all of this.

They love playing basketball just like me. They you know, they like good fashion, they love you know, they they love Jack Harlow and whoever else is popping right now and Cardi B. Like these are these are kids that grew up again. Ukraine has done a tremendous job moving forward, moving uh, you know, kind of progressing into the future. It has just an incredible again human resource and natural

resources and history and beautiful cities and architecture. It's a country that's over a thousand years old, you know, just to put it in perspective, this country's not even you know, it's two and fifty years old. It's over a thousand years old. There's so much history there, uh, and you know it's literally being bombed and leveled as we speak. And that's yeah, that's kind of my little feel for you. Well, I think it was very informative. Um I mean, yeah,

it's really hard to wrap. Yeah, it's hard because I can't even imagine how like I feel a certain way about it immediately when I heard about it, just because I know you and love you so much, and it then it feels personal to me. And then it's like when you really sit here and you think about like kids and moms and people that were living their daily life in their complete normal bubble and now they're in bomb shelters like you were saying, and just these terrible,

terrible situations. It's it's hard to even believe that's where all. But you know, like can you imagine a young family, like I said, you know, just a short while ago, dreaming about their you know, buying their home or just

just moving into their home, starting their family. And now, uh, the guy has to go, you know, the guy has to go and serve on the front, you know, being a trench somewhere while his wife and kids are refugees in a neighboring country if they're lucky, and when they do get to a neighboring country, Like the challenges, the

just the everyday challenges. I I don't want to again paint this, you know, gloomy picture but we start to celebrate when we see kids be accepted by these countries as refugees, and it is a beautiful thing and it's a testament to the world for opening it his doors to the Ukrainian people. But then once they're there, like, let me just put it in perspective, it's like, now up, you know, where's that? What are we doing? What language

are we speaking? What do I do? I'm a professional engineer, Like do I go and clean somewhere or like like, which is also a noble job, but it's like even that job is scarce. Like we also live in a

tough it's tough for everybody, not just Ukrainians. But you know, to add this, it's like you look around and you know, the ego, the pride, for get the ego, but just like self respect, you know, you kind of it just it just kind of it shatters everything at every level, war in general, and it's just that's where we ad And I never thought that, like after two years of a pandemic, you know, this would be now this this other hurdle for the world to kind of try to swallow.

Ye do you kind of want to talk about the President of Ukraine a little bit because I I was fascinated when you were talking to me. And also fun fact he won Dancing with Stars in Ukraine, right yeah, yeah, So this guy, you know, he was an amazing actor, artist, comedian in particular, UM who got a degree in economics. I believe economics. Don't call me on that, but he you know, he's an educated man, right uh, but pursued the arts and was really good at it, really you

know charismatic. Um as a celebrity, right like in Ukraine, he was, he's a celebrity. Yeah, yeah, he was. He was a celebrity in Russia too. He was a celebrity in Ukraine and in Russia he was celebrated, you know, the celebrity, but he was. He was a very well respected artist. And in two thousand and six he actually competed in the Ukrainian Dancing with the Stars and one just to kind of like full circle moment for me to just kind of get a little attachment to the guy.

But yeah, he he's a fellow Dancing with the Stars, an alumni, UM and he actually you know, he came out with the show that where he you know, he built his notoriety and then he came out with the show where he actually plays a president, and the whole concept of the of the show was that this regular guy, uh, you know, within the turmoil of the country and a lot of corruption and political corruption and unrest. Uh, this regular everyday guy um runs runs for office. I mean

it's more complex than that. But somehow he ends up being in this campaign, you know, for for office and he wins you know, short along story short, and it was such a popular show and it was just you know, I guess again. Ukraine has been through a lot of growing pains politically and uh, you know, it had a revolution in two thousand and fourteen, and had a revolution

in two thousand and four before that thousand and eight. Uh, and then in two thousand and fourteen, Uh, there was a huge again the people rose up to their government. It was a huge again revolution that was that was led by the people to have a democratic process because they didn't believe in their representation. Uh, and there was a lot of corruption and uh, they fought for their

democratic right to elect their president. And so you know that a show about the everyday man rising to the occasion and with humility and no political agendas or rather there no you know, I guess no option attached to the history of his political career. Um. This this everyday man gets elected and he becomes a national hero and

then he does a good job as president, etcetera. And it was such a popular show that as a like, people online started kind of messing around with him and and going like, yo, you should actually run for president because he's an off camera he you know, he loved

his country. Is his grandfather, you know, fought in the Great War, um, and you know, he comes from a family of military men, you know that served Ukraine, so he has a lot of pride in Ukraine and being there, and uh, you know, it went viral, this this kind of like the notion of him actually running for office because again, the people were exhausted of politicians and you know, career politicians, if you will, with certain agendas, self serving agendas,

and and one thing led to another they kind of like volunteered him into into, you know, run for office. And in Ukraine it's a little different how it goes. There's multiple parties, it's not just a two party system

like in America. And uh, you know, he kind of ran as under his and and then the slogan was the same as in the show, and uh yeah, he kind of ran under a very like a similar brand, if you and he passed the first round of elections and people were like, oh, shoot, like this and people really rallied and he won by like sevent like sev which is unbelievable, you know, but he was revered and loved and and then again he stepped into the office and I guess two thousand nineteen, I believe, and my

man was hit with the pandemic, you know, and and rallied his country out of that, and then and now this, you know, and and the way he's you know again, if you turned on the news or you've been following the story, I mean, this man has really rose to the occasion. You know. His his famous quote that I guess went around the world is America. I guess called him to to help extract him from the country when the invasion started, and h he said, you know, I

don't need a ride, I need an ammunition. Uh. And so you know, he's he's hunkered down and he's with the people. And you know, when you're fighting a bully that's overpowering and oversized and overmatched, when you're all out overmatched. I guess is the word morale is huge. You know when they say it's not it's not the dog, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, as the size of the fighting the dog. Like this is a perfect example, opinions are you know, really you know

they have a reason. You know, they have the morale because there is no reason for Russian military to be there, no real reason for them is going to go in there and there. You know, like I said, they're the military is is winning on the ground, and he's leading the way in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, you know, the skies are open and the bombs are falling, and you know, this is very little that they could do about that. But you know, otherwise this is you know,

the entire world kind of mobilized in their defense. And you know, hopefully they you know, hopefully kids and people and the guys in Ukraine know that they were all behind them and we're all going to continue to support them as long as they need us. And yeah, yeah, for sure, it's I think it's really yeah, it's really admirable that. Um. I often think about when if I think if a US president, if we were going to war.

Do you think a president in the United States is going to step up and fight or they're going to get like Matt security and hidden. And it's just it's it's it's really incredible. But I mean, he's he's yeah, he's in the Capitol, and and he is the number one target too, Like they are specifically saying that we're we're going for him. This is who we want, you know.

And uh, he's not fleeing. He's there, he's fighting, and he's giving hope to to an entire nation that again, just five years ago looked at him as a as an actor and a comedian and now they're looking at him as as the leader that they never thought they

needed but they needed. And I you know, it's not it's it's very specific to him because I don't know how many other presidents, even in Ukraine, not just in this country, around the world, how many presidents would would you know, stick around to to be there in the trenches. But that's you know, hopefully he doesn't become a martyr, you know, And that's the things that we celebrate people after they die and we hold them off and we

celebrate them. Hopefully he he lives to get a chance to leave this country in a peaceful time and lead it in the in the right direction. Okay, guys, we are taking a quick pause at this point in the episode. Please tune into the next episode for part two with val and to hear more very very important and interesting and crucial information on how to help personal stories. And yeah, just make sure you tune in because the next half is also really special. So um, we'll chat to you then.