Ukrainian police have opened a human trafficking case after a 20-year-old OnlyFans model was found battered and bloodied on a roadside in Dubai.
Maria Kovalchuk was hospitalised with a broken spine and limbs after she was discovered ten days ago, which followed her being missing for more than a week.
Friends expressed fears the Ukrainian model had been kidnapped into sexual slavery before being dumped by her attackers.
But Dubai police said her injuries were the result of a fall from a height on a construction site – which several reports have said her friends and family dispute.
She had several operations after she was found in critical condition without her passport, but is now ‘stable’, her doctors said, and her life is no longer in danger.
She remains in hospital in Dubai, UAE, where Ukraine‘s consul in the city found her after Ms Kovalchuk’s mother Anna asked them for help to locate her.
Police in Ukraine today said they had opened a human trafficking case and a ‘pre-trial investigation’ is underway. No suspects were named.
A concern was the model had attended a so-called Porta Potty event, where female influencers can be paid huge sums to be subjected to extreme and degrading abuse by wealthy men.
Maria Kovalchuk (pictured) was hospitalised with a broken spine and limbs after she was discovered ten days ago, which followed her being missing for more than a week
Friends expressed fears the Ukrainian model (pictured) had been kidnapped into sexual slavery before being dumped by her attackers
But Dubai police said her injuries were the result of a fall from a height on a construction site
The launch of the Ukrainian case – by the main investigation department of Ukraine’s national police in the country’s Lviv region – came after the nation’s consul in Dubai, Oleksiy Lyashenko, helped locate the missing woman.
‘The consulate of Ukraine in Dubai said that Maria’s mother asked them to find her daughter,’ said Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske.
‘The staff of the consulate found the girl in one of the city’s medical institutions.’
The aspect of the country’s law at issue in the case provides for punishment for human trafficking – but also for recruiting, moving or hiding the victim for the purpose of exploiting them.
Several reports have said her friends and family dispute the official version that she was alone on a construction site and fell.
Ms Kovalchuk’s mother Anna, who flew from Norway to be with her, said her daughter is expected to recover from her horrific injuries.
‘She is getting medical treatment and everything will be all right,’ she said.
‘We are still getting treatment.’
She remains in hospital in Dubai, UAE, where Ukraine ‘s consul in the city found her after Ms Kovalchuk’s mother Anna (pictured) asked them for help to locate her
Police in Ukraine today said they had opened a human trafficking case and a ‘pre-trial investigation’ is underway. No suspects were named. Pictured: Model Maria Kovalchuk
A concern was the model (pictured) had attended a so-called Porta Potty event, where female influencers can be paid huge sums to be subjected to extreme and degrading abuse by wealthy men
According to media reports, the model told her mother she was staying with two men and was cancelling a planned trip to Thailand on March 11.
She was described as being with two men who ‘who introduced themselves as representatives of the modelling business’.
There were concerns about her having attended a so-called Porta Potty event at which female influencers can be paid huge sums to be subjected to extreme and degrading abuse, fulfilling the bestial desires of wealthy men.
Russian lawyer Katya Gordon said: ‘Model Maria Kovalchuk was found dying on the side of the road in the UAE after a party with Arab sheikhs.
‘She is currently in critical condition in hospital.
‘The scandal with the Porta Potty parties has been raging… for over a year.’
Ms Kovalchuk’s mother has previously said of her daughter’s terrifying ordeal: ‘There is an assumption that she went to a party.
‘But the promoter who organised these parties did not see her.
According to media reports, the model (pictured) told her mother she was staying with two men and was cancelling a planned trip to Thailand on March 11
Ms Kovalchuk’s mother (pictured) has previously said of her daughter’s terrifying ordeal: ‘There is an assumption that she went to a party’
She was described as being with two men who ‘who introduced themselves as representatives of the modelling business’
Her friend, Russian model Angelina Doroshenkova (pictured), 31, said: ‘We all hope for the best and are very grateful to everyone who took part in the search and helped with information’
‘Maria was [eventually] found in hospital in serious condition. She has no documents, no phone, nothing.
‘She underwent three [now four] operations. And she cannot speak.’
Her friend, Russian model Angelina Doroshenkova, 31, said: ‘We all hope for the best and are very grateful to everyone who took part in the search and helped with information.’
