‘I will never go back to Dubai,’ says Maria Kovalchuk. ‘It is a very dark place.’
Behind the gleaming skyscrapers of Dubai, an influencer hub built on luxury and excess, she says there is another reality.
The curated image of the Middle Eastern paradise has long been marred by allegations of coercion and abuse, particularly concerning violent, degrading acts at parties involving affluent expats and sheiks.
Maria, a Ukrainian former OnlyFans model, says she experienced it firsthand.
Last March, the 21-year-old was found unconscious on a roadside in Dubai with severe injuries, in a case that sent shockwaves throughout the globe.
Emirati authorities, scrambling to sustain their image of a ‘safe haven’ claimed she had fallen from a construction site. Maria disputes that account and says she was assaulted.
In her first interview with a Western news outlet, Maria sat down with the Daily Mail to share her account of that night, her claims of an official cover-up, and the ongoing death threats from her alleged attackers, who remain free.
Now a makeup artist living in Norway, the former model fought back tears as she shared her story with me.
Maria Kovalchuk, who was left for dead on the side of a road in Dubai, says she will never return to the luxury paradise
Maria pictured in a Dubai hospital after suffering multiple injuries including multiple fractures to her limbs
She tells me she arrived in Dubai for a photoshoot for one of her channels, expecting nothing more than a brief getaway.
However she missed her flight home and ended up accepting help from a man she had met the previous day.
‘He offered to help and said I could stay in his room while I figured out how to get home.
‘So I ended up in that hotel room with two men – a Russian, a Belarusian, and two girls.’
‘At first everything was relatively normal. We were discussing what to do next, how I could return home.’
But the situation deteriorated rapidly when the group produced a collection of alcohol and narcotics that could easily result in a life sentence in Dubai.
‘After some time, they started partying. There was alcohol and illegal substances and they tried to get me to join in.
‘I explained that I didn’t want to participate and their behaviour quickly became aggressive. It was apparent they wanted me under the influence so I would do sexual things with them.
‘They treated me like an object. They said, “you belong to us, we can do what we want”.’
Maria says the alleged perpetrators took her personal belongings including her passport and phone.
‘One of the girls slapped me hard in the face. The same girl then stole all my clothes and left wearing my dress.’
‘They tried to force me to drink and take substances. Every time I refused they became more aggressive.’
She tried to escape, frantically screaming for help from the hotel room balcony, before the men dragged her back inside.
Seizing a moment while the men were outside, the model attempted to escape a second time, only to be intercepted and caught.
‘Inside, one girl was watching me. As soon as I ran, she shouted that I had escaped. At that point, I was panicking and terrified for my life.
‘I just wanted to leave that place. It was night and dark outside – everything was a blur. I just ran.’
‘The next thing I remember is a sharp blow to my head. Then I remember briefly seeing a taxi driver who I called to for help before falling unconscious. After that, I woke up in the hospital.’
Maria describes the ordeal that followed as one of the worst moments of her life, both physically and emotionally, as she claims Dubai authorities appeared to do everything in their power to discredit her story.
Maria pictured in a hospital in Dubai after receiving treatment for a head injury
Maria says she was prevented from leaving the country for four months while an investigation was ongoing
She was subsequently rushed to the emergency room. As stated in a medical report filed in April 2025 seen by the Daily Mail, she suffered a catalogue of devastating injuries, including a shattered vertebra in her lower spine and multiple fractures to her limbs.
Her left leg was badly broken, with the tibia and fibula splintered, while both collarbones were fractured. She also sustained a broken wrist.
The injuries to her right side were particularly severe, with extensive trauma to her scalp and skull. Her right foot and ankle were crushed in a complex series of fractures affecting several bones, while her left ankle was left with an open fracture so severe that bone pierced through the skin.
When she woke up from an eight day coma, she says her hands were tied to the bed.
‘I woke up, bedridden, and my mind immediately spiraled into terrible thoughts. I didn’t understand at all what was happening.’
‘I had no idea who I was, where I was. I couldn’t even say my name for a very long time. I didn’t even recognise my mother when I managed to see her via video call.’
‘There was no contact with reality at all. I couldn’t sleep, I lay awake all day and all night, tied to the bed, with my eyes wide open.’
During that time, she says hospital staff recorded her under a false identity in an attempt to hide the fact that she was there.
‘Although they had my passport, they checked me in under a false identity, I was lying there under a different name, diagnosed with some kind of intestinal infection or something. They had me down as a 37-year-old.’
‘My mother searched for me for a very long time but nobody knew where I was. In the end, a friend’s wife, who lives in Dubai, got involved and managed to find me. They identified me by a tattoo on my finger.’
Dubai Police claimed at the time that she had sustained the life-threatening injuries after entering a restricted construction site alone and falling from a height.
However Maria rejects that conclusion and describes her treatment by authorities as ‘horrible’.
‘They were very aggressive, they came to interrogate me at night. They took my passport, took my phone, and tried to unblock it.’
‘To this day they haven’t given me back my phone. They say they will only give it back if I return to Dubai to collect it, which obviously I will not be doing.’
She says she was prevented from leaving the country for four months while an investigation was ongoing.
Although the four suspects were briefly detained, they were released within a day.
‘While the investigation was underway, we were told, “we’ll look at all the cameras” and so on, but it kept getting delayed until they ended up claiming CCTV footage had all been erased,’ Maria explained.
‘In a country full of cameras where CCTV should be available within hours, somehow in my case the hotel CCTV “didn’t work,” and the outside camera footage had been erased.’
‘To this day, the four people who did this to me are still free and have not faced any consequences. Authorities didn’t even establish what happened. They just closed the case.’
Maria’s right foot and ankle were crushed in a complex series of fractures affecting several bones, while her left ankle was left with an open fracture so severe that bone pierced through the skin
Maria has since stepped away from OnlyFans and is working towards going to college and becoming a qualified makeup artist
A year on, Maria still relies on crutches due to complications with an implant in her leg
A human trafficking case was also opened in Ukraine, as reported by local media at the time, but was quickly dropped, and Maria says it did not even reach an initial investigation.
Now, Maria has revealed she believes those involved had connections that helped shut down the case.
‘Their parents have businesses in Dubai, they are linked to Russia, and these millionaire and billionaire families definitely had connections to help.’
When she finally left Dubai, the 21-year-old returned to Norway where her mother lives, and began to receive death threats from the four alleged perpetrators.
‘They contacted me and threatened to kill my family. They wrote to me, “Say goodbye to your family, we will find you, we will come to Norway.”‘
They also targeted her mother, Anna, who disclosed in a previous interview that she received a chilling message on her phone, reading: ‘We’ll find you even in Norway.’
‘After this we contacted the police, and they gave us these panic buttons. Each family member has one, just in case. When pressed, an emergency call goes to the police,’ Maria told me.
But even with panic buttons installed, Maria finds little comfort and remains in constant fear for her life while her alleged attackers evade justice.
‘I’m always careful, especially when I travel. I never post my location because I know these people are capable of hurting me, and they have openly threatened to do so on their social media.’
More than a year on, she is still recovering. She experiences ongoing complications including muscle atrophy and post traumatic arthritis, and relies on crutches due to complications with an implant in her leg.
She says financial constraints have limited her ability to pursue legal action, as medical bills continue to mount.
The psychological weight of her recovery has only been intensified by what she describes as a non-stop influx of online abuse.
‘When the situation became a media phenomenon – against my will – people became infatuated, and there were as many opinions as there are people.’
‘In our society, if a woman enters an adult profession like OnlyFans, people find it scandalous and begin to view her as less than human.
‘Yet, these are the same individuals who seem to find it perfectly acceptable that, in other countries, women are routinely subjected to violence and sexual assault.
‘Meanwhile all I’m doing is selling pictures and not hurting anyone.’
Maria has since stepped away from OnlyFans and is working towards going to college and becoming a qualified makeup artist, sharing the process on her new Instagram page which she says gives her a new sense of purpose.
‘A year later, it still feels unreal. I am learning to trust people again. I can walk now, though I still use crutches. I feel alive again and I am rebuilding myself.’
Maria experiences ongoing complications including muscle atrophy and post traumatic arthritis
Maria says she wants justice for the four alleged assailants, but for now her focus is on recovery and funding further treatment
Her mother, she says, has been central to her recovery. ‘She is my biggest support. Without her, I don’t think I would have made it.’
Maria says she wants justice for the four alleged assailants, but for now her focus is on recovery and funding further treatment.
‘It’s a very dark place that seems like paradise but in reality everything is far from like that,’ she says of Dubai.
‘There is a lot of money circulating there and, behind this money, there are people, and it’s dangerous.’
In a warning to other young influencers who may decide to travel to Dubai, she said: ‘Be careful and do not trust anyone. Rely on yourself and make sure you are safe, because if anything happens to you, contacting the police for help is not an option.’
Maria is currently raising money to cover the significant costs of her medical treatment and rehabilitation.
You can support her journey by visiting her online fundraiser here.
