Latest news with #KseniaSobchak
Daily Mail
24-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Ukrainian model reveals chilling final words she heard before being 'beaten into coma' after Dubai party
A Ukrainian OnlyFans model who was found beaten almost to death by the side of the road in Dubai has revealed the chilling final words she heard from her alleged attackers. Maria Kovalchuk was found with horrific injuries, including severe head trauma and a broken spine and limbs, when she was discovered on a roadside in the Emirati city. She spent weeks in the hospital in a coma before beginning the long road to recovery. Earlier this week, the 20-year-old, who is now undergoing rehabilitation in Norway, broke her silence in a bombshell interview with Russian presenter and media personality Ksenia Sobchak. She revealed that she was spending time with a group of acquaintances in a Dubai hotel room when two men who had invited her there became violent. Moments before she fled the room in what would prove a futile escape attempt, the pair, who had allegedly been drinking heavily, smashing bottles and acting aggressively, made a horrifying statement, according to Maria. 'You belong to us. We'll do whatever we want.' Maria was chased out of the hotel and ultimately found in her hiding spot in a nearby building that was under construction. She does not remember the attack, but suspects she was brutally beaten or dropped from a height, given the nature of her injuries. Speaking to Sobchak from her wheelchair, Maria explained how her horrific story began when she missed a flight from Dubai to Thailand after she overslept. While checking out of her hotel, she bumped into a Russian man she had met at a karaoke bar once before. After telling him about her situation, he invited her to stay in his room and told her they could fly to Thailand together in his private jet. The man was accompanied by three friends - another man and two women. 'We went up to the room. The guys were half-sober, they had just come from a party. And overall, everything went well throughout the day. We talked, discussed our trip to Thailand. 'I even called my mum, said that everything was fine, the guys were normal. I called in their presence, to be on the safe side. But things took dark turn the next day, when the men started to behave aggressively towards her, she says. 'They were drinking very strong alcohol, like whiskey. They started to tease me, like, why don't I drink. 'Then there were some aggressive pushes... ''You belong to us. We'll 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. Maria explained that the horrific ordeal unfolded when she missed a flight from Dubai for Thailand after she overslept She said that she bumped into a Russian man she had met at a karaoke bar once before and joined him and his friends before things took a dark turn 'After that, they took my personal belongings, which included my passport.' Maria added that the men had 'hinted' that they wanted to have sex with her, which she did not reciprocate. As things escalated, Maria tried to escape but said the men ultimately dragged her back into the room. When they stepped out onto the balcony, she managed to flee and hid at a nearby construction site. The men then found her and 'beat her', she said. 'I ran away. Then, already on the street, when I was, I didn't see them anymore, but I knew they were coming,' said Maria. 'I ran to the nearest building, just scared, and ran in, hid there. It was just an unfinished building.' Maria said she doesn't remember the violence itself that led to her injuries, and CCTV footage has since been erased, she said. 'Three months have passed - the police waited until the cameras were automatically wiped [after this period]. So now there's no evidence,' said Maria. '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. She had fled wearing only a hotel robe. '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.' The men accused by Maria were both briefly detained by police in Dubai- but only for one day. There appear to be no charges against them. Maria told her friends she had been invited to a party at a hotel on March 9, and promptly dropped out of contact with them. Ten days later, it emerged she had been discovered a week prior, battered, bloodied and dumped at a roadside in Dubai with her limbs and spine broken. Maria was rushed to hospital and underwent three surgeries to save her life, before later receiving a fourth procedure. The model is now confined to a wheelchair but is slowly learning to walk again.
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ukrainian model, 20, found horrifically injured in Dubai appears in wheelchair for harrowing first interview as she describes 'beating' by male revellers who warned her 'you belong to us' at party before she blacked out
A Ukrainian OnlyFans model who was found seriously injured in Dubai on the side of the road has told for the first time of the terrifying abuse she endured. Maria Kovalchuk, 20, went into a coma and suffered horrific injuries including a broken spine and limbs when she was discovered on a roadside on March 19. The adult content creator had been due at a party but mysteriously vanished. Her friends expressed fears she had been kidnapped before she was found 10 days later in a critical condition. Breaking her silence on her terrifying ordeal from Norway, where she is recovering, a wheelchair-bound Maria appeared in an interview with Russian presenter Ksenia Sobchak. Speaking to the interviewer, Maria explained that the horrific ordeal unfolded when she missed a flight from Dubai to Thailand after she overslept. While checking out of her hotel, she bumped into a Russian man she had met at a karaoke bar once before. After telling him about her situation, he invited her to stay in his room and told her they could fly to Thailand together in his private jet. The man was accompanied by three friends - a man and two women. 'We went up to the room. The guys were half-sober, they had just come from a party. And overall, everything went well throughout the day. We talked, discussed our trip to Thailand. 'I even called my mum, said that everything was fine, the guys were normal. I called in their presence, to be on the safe side. But things took dark turn the next day, when the men started to behave aggressively towards her, she says. 'They were drinking very strong alcohol, like whiskey. They started to tease me, like, why don't I drink. 'Then there were some aggressive pushes, they started to joke: 'You belong to us. We'll 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. 'After that, they took my personal belongings, which included my passport.' Maria added that the men had 'hinted' that they wanted to have sex with her, which she did not reciprocate. As things escalated, Maria tried to escape but said the men ultimately dragged her back into the room. When they stepped out onto the balcony, she managed to flee and hid at a nearby construction site. The men then found her and 'beat her', she said. 'I ran away. Then, already on the street, when I was, I didn't see them anymore, but I knew they were coming,' said Maria. 'I ran to the nearest building, just scared, and ran in, hid there. It was just an unfinished building.' Maria said she doesn't remember the violence itself that led to her injuries, and CCTV footage has since been erased, she said. 'Three months have passed — the police waited until the cameras were automatically wiped [after this period]. So now there's no evidence,' said Maria. '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. She had fled wearing only a hotel robe. '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.' The men accused by Maria were both briefly detained by police in Dubai- but only for one day. There appear to be no charges against them. Maria had been missing for eight days after telling her friends she had been invited to a party at a hotel on March 9. On March 19, ten days after she disappeared, a battered and bloodied Maria was found dumped at a roadside in Dubai with her limbs and spine broken.
The Sun
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Playboy model from iconic Pulp album cover has chilling link to Putin
A PLAYBOY model who featured on an iconic album cover has a surprising link to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin. Ksenia Sobchak, 41, posed for the lads' mag in 2006 and was on the iconic cover of Pulp's 1998 album, This Is Hardcore. 4 4 But the glamorous socialite ditched her party-ways and remade herself into a journalist and liberal politician who has been accused of being a " Kremlin stooge" by opposition activists. She is Putin's goddaughter and the offspring of one of his first political mentors - the ex mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly A. Sobchak - who put him on the path to presidency. The unlikely pair have known each other since the 1990s when her dad launched Putin's political career. However, she has been vocal about being against the Ukraine war - and insists she helps residents of Russian border regions displaced by Ukrainian shelling. She and the President have reportedly have not spoken since the war began, nor seen each other. Sobchak now works as an influencer on YouTube, interviewing critics of the war. arrests of antiwar activists. In a conversation with her 9.5million Instagram fans about the conflict, she said: 'I believe that this is a horrific situation, but we're going to get through this time, we'll get through it together with our audience.' Navalny accused her of being a puppet opposition candidate to Putin - to give the illusion of democracy. She said at the time: "In a system created by Putin, it is only possible for Putin to win. "I am realistic about who will become the president." Sobchak was hit by further controversy in her media career in 2022 when she was hunted by Russianpolice over claims of extortion and tax fraud. At the time she claimed it was a "politically motivated move" when three of her former employees were accused of trying to extort money from the head of state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. After fleeing cops in Moscow, she escaped to Lithuania via Belarus after police arrested her business partner. However, after returning to Russia, Sobchak visited the Rostec office to reconcile with boss Sergey Chemezov for the "actions of colleagues" accused of extortion and said "their fate will be decided by the court". When the three ex-employees were jailed for seven years, their former boss slammed the verdict as 'way more than injustice.' 'I've done everything we had agreed to get leniency [for Kirill Sukhanov, Arian Romanovsky and Tamerlan Bigayev],' she wrote in a statement. 'Why are you ruining people's lives? 'Why the disproportionality? Just as revenge?' Her despair over the Ukraine war sparked a popular YouTube show in which she deals with stories that Russia's state media usually turn a blind eye to. Her interests include the arrests of antiwar activists, violence committed by soldiers returning from the front and human rights abuses in the southern region of Chechnya. Russian equivalent of Paris Hilton in the Noughties.
