Ukrainian model Maria Kovalchuk, who spent months in a coma after a brutal ordeal in Dubai, has spoken publicly for the first time about the terrifying incident that left her with life-altering injuries.
Back in March, the 20-year-old was found severely injured on the side of a Dubai road, suffering from a broken spine and multiple fractured limbs. Early speculation suggested she had been abducted and possibly forced into “sexual slavery.” Some also feared the OnlyFans model had fallen victim to one of Dubai’s notorious “Porta-Potty Parties,” where wealthy men are said to pay large sums to humiliate and abuse social media influencers.
However, Maria now claims her injuries were inflicted by a group of young Russian men who invited her to a party and turned violent after drinking.
Speaking from her mother’s home in Norway to Russian outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, Maria revealed that the UAE government covered her costly medical treatment on the condition that she refrain from publicly criticizing the country.
Maria now relies on either a wheelchair or crutches to move around due to the severity of her injuries.
She said: “I still have a leg fracture that’s healing. I’m learning to walk with crutches again, but for now, the wheelchair is my main means of moving around.”
Recalling the night of the incident, Maria explained that she had missed a flight from Dubai to Thailand when she encountered a 19-year-old at a bar. He claimed his father could arrange a private jet to Thailand and offered his hotel room for her to stay. She accepted an invitation to join him and his friends at a party, but the situation quickly spiraled out of control.
Maria said: “They started teasing me, why I wasn’t drinking. Then some aggressive pushes like pushing in the shoulders began. After that, they started making fun of me like ‘you belong to us, we will do whatever we want.’
“I tried to take it as a joke, because it was really weird. They started behaving inappropriately, smashing bottles on the floor. That is, the entire floor was strewn with broken glass, that is, it was impossible to walk there.
“Then they started intimidating me, smashing glass. After that, they took my personal belongings, which included my passport. And one of the girls….put on my things and just left in them, although before that I asked her not to do this, [and] to leave my things. That is, no one heard me, and she just left the hotel in my dress.”
Maria said things escalated when she refused the sexual advances of the men. She managed to flee when they stepped out onto a balcony and hid at a nearby construction site, but they found her and allegedly assaulted her there. She also claimed the CCTV footage was erased, removing any potential evidence.
After that, Maria says her memory becomes hazy. She added: “Most likely, there was a blow to the head, I suppose. The next scene [that] I remember is me asking for help from a passing car, which had already stopped and called an ambulance and the police.
“I think that maybe I was thrown. Or it was a beating. One of two options, the injuries looked like either a beating or a fall.”
In response, Dubai police issued a statement saying: “A comprehensive investigation has revealed that she sustained serious injuries after entering a restricted construction site alone and falling from a height.”