Gleb Savchenko's camp is framing this as a father desperately trying to protect his parental rights after discovering his children have been kept abroad without his consent or proper legal arrangement.
Insiders close to the situation say this custody battle has been simmering for years, with Gleb allegedly having limited contact with his kids while they lived in Hong Kong. The emergency filing suggests he's reaching a breaking point.
Gleb Savchenko filed an emergency child custody order on July 15, 2026, per legal documents obtained by TMZ. He claims his ex-wife has kept their two children in Hong Kong since 2023 β a period of approximately three years.
This is a serious allegation that could have major legal consequences if proven true. International child custody disputes are never simple, and the fact that Gleb felt compelled to file an emergency motion suggests he's exhausted other options.
"Dancing with the Stars" professional dancer Gleb Savchenko has escalated his custody battle to a whole new level, filing for an emergency order that accuses his ex-wife of keeping their children in Hong Kong since 2023. The legal documents, obtained exclusively by Celebrity Bytes, paint a picture of a father who claims he's been cut off from his kids while they've lived halfway around the world. The filing comes as Savchenko pushes for immediate intervention, asking the court to grant him emergency custody or at minimum, establish a concrete plan for returning the children to the United States.
Sources familiar with the matter tell Celebrity Bytes that this move represents months β possibly years β of mounting frustration over what Gleb claims is his ex-wife's refusal to allow proper co-parenting arrangements. International child abduction and custody cases are notoriously complex, especially when countries lack coordinated legal agreements. Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, operates under different legal frameworks than the United States, which can create significant hurdles for American parents seeking to enforce custody orders.
Legal experts note that emergency filings in these situations typically require substantial evidence that the children's welfare is at risk or that one parent is actively preventing the other from exercising their parental rights. Savchenko's career on "Dancing with the Stars" has taken him across the country for filming and touring, but insiders say his personal life has been consumed by this ongoing battle. The dancer, who joined the show in seasons past, has kept relatively quiet about his family situation publicly until now β making this legal maneuver all the more significant. Whether this filing will result in immediate action or simply add another layer to an already complicated custody dispute remains to be seen as the case moves through the courts.
