Strictly Come Dancing professional Nikita Kuzmin has been reunited with his grandmother after she escaped Kyiv.
The dancer – who was born in Ukraine, before moving to Italy aged nine – previously shared his fears for his elderly grandparent amid Russia’s invasion of his home country.
Nikita made his way to Poland to be reunited with his grandma, who had travelled from the Ukrainian capital to make it over the border to escape the war.
He shared photos of their emotional reunion and footage from a train station in Krakow where many others who had fled were arriving.
Nikita wrote: “Picked up my grandma from Poland! She is so incredibly brave & strong, 2 nights without sleeping, walking 8km+ in the freezing cold, when on a normal day, she can barely walk!
“She traveled from Kiev, my mom flew from Rome and i drove from Frankfurt and we all reunited in Krakow! Just so happy to be together. ps: heart and sunglasses covering the lack of sleep.”
He continued: “When I was waiting for my mom and grandma at the train station, I’ve been immersed in this situation for the first time in real life. 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.
“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.”
Nikita said that unfortunately his aunt and other grandma and grandpa were still in Kyiv.
The dancer – who debuted on Strictly last year, where he partnered Tilly Ramsay – also paid tribute to volunteers and people who had donated items, money and food to those escaping the war, and urged everyone to continuing doing so.
“This is nowhere near to be over and the best thing that you can do is help anyhow, just DO SOMETHING,” he urged.