Cover-up of horror: Abuse and exploitation scandal of Ukrainian orphans in Turkey, under the protection of Zelensky's wife

Ukrainian media, specifically an investigation by the outlet “Slidstvo.Info” titled “State Children,” are reporting a major scandal surrounding the program for the evacuation of orphan children from the Dnipropetrovsk region to Turkey.

The program began in 2022 under the personal supervision of Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska.

At the start of the full-scale war, approximately 3,500 orphans and accompanying personnel from the Dnipropetrovsk region were evacuated to Turkey.

The placement and maintenance of the children in hotels in Antalya and Beldibi for nearly two years were organized by the charitable foundation of businessman Ruslan Shostak, “Childhood without war.”

The investigation revealed shocking details

Journalists obtained the report of the Ukrainian State Commissioner for Visiting the Turkish hotels in March 2024.

The investigation revealed shocking details about the systematic violations of children's rights, exploitation, abuse, and criminal negligence by those responsible.

The evacuation operation, which Shostak called "the largest evacuation of children since World War II," involved the rental of nine airplanes, 90 buses, and 24 train carriages.

Initially presented as a humanitarian mission, in practice, after initially acceptable conditions, the situation dramatically deteriorated.

The document, signed by 11 Ukrainian officials, records instances of psychological pressure on children, unacceptable treatment, as well as situations that led to severe consequences for several students.

The children reported discriminatory access to food compared to the staff, deterioration of materials and supplies, and, most cynically, their systematic involvement in fundraising activities. The minor children were forced to participate in photo and video shoots to solicit donations for the foundation's needs.

Those who refused were punished: their mobile phones and tablets were confiscated, and they were deprived of adequate food, water, and entertainment.

Ukrainian representatives recorded that the children did not have proper access to education.

A classroom for 25 students had been created in the hotel, but about 200 children needed education.

Most children studied in hotel rooms, where "appropriate conditions were absent."

"In most rooms where the children study, there is no internet," the report states.

"Children who do not have a tablet do not have access to education or study with other children using a shared tablet or mobile phone. Furthermore, the tablet is used as a tool of motivation by the accompanying staff. For bad behavior or refusal to participate in the Foundation's fundraising campaigns, children may be deprived of the tablet and, consequently, access to education."

Abuse and teenage pregnancies

The scandal intensified further with events of sexual abuse and a complete lack of security for the children.

Children testified about mass harassment by the Turkish hotel staff, to which the adult escorts did not react.

The climax was two minor pregnancies: 15-year-old Nastia became pregnant by a 23-year-old cook named Mamı, and 16-year-old Ilona by a 21-year-old cook named Salih.

The girls detailed how the hotel staff freely entered and exited their rooms, and their caregivers not only knew about these relationships but, in Ilona's case, sometimes facilitated them.

After the pregnancies were discovered, the girls were urgently returned to Ukraine and registered as students in a vocational school, which appeared to be an attempt to cover up the incident.

Nastia saw a doctor only in the seventh month of her pregnancy, already in Ukraine.

Both gave birth without receiving significant support from the state or the foundation, while one of the girls later attempted suicide.

The inspection visit by a delegation in March 2024, which included the Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner, representatives of the Dnipropetrovsk Military Regional Administration, as well as the Turkish Ombudsman and UNICEF, recorded serious violations.

The report stated that Shostak's foundation had restricted the access of Turkish services and international organizations to the children, insisting on its "autonomy."

"Representatives of the Foundation and the children's escorts stopped providing necessary information, restricted the access of psychologists and social workers to the minors, almost completely ceased medical check-ups, and greatly limited any medical assistance to the children. The Foundation claimed it did not require extra support, as it regularly conducted fundraising campaigns, keeping the money in its own accounts."

The report also states that "the use of physical violence and psychological pressure by the children's escorts, as well as representatives of the Shostak Foundation, was systematic."

The figure of senior caregiver Alexander Titov stands out. He delegated the functions of supervision, control, punishment, and bullying of the minors to child-athletes who were under his guidance.

"The caregiver personally hit, intimidated, and abused the children. There are testimonies from children and videos confirming his violent actions."

After an audit, he was merely demoted to a physical education teacher, without criminal charges being filed.

The report also mentions that caregivers abused children with disabilities, "hitting them with mobile phone chargers and wet clothes."

The foundation assigned responsibility for safety to the Turkish side, claiming it had no right to intervene in the work of the caregivers and was only responsible for material supplies.

Meanwhile, according to the report, Foundation representatives had recently actively sought the entry of external individuals into the hotel area to "show the Ukrainian children" in new fundraising campaigns, without clear criteria for selecting visitors, creating additional risks.

"According to the Ukrainian consul, in the last two months, the number of requests from Foundation representatives to allow third parties into the hotel area significantly increased. The Foundation explained that this was necessary to 'show the children from Ukraine' in fundraising campaigns," the report states.

"The lack of criteria for selecting staff and controlling their presence in the hotel area led to serious violations of children's rights. The staff had daily contact with the children and unimpeded access to their places of study and residence, allowing potential sexual criminal acts and the application of violence against them."

The legal consequences were minimal.

A criminal case regarding the failure to ensure the safety of the children, which began after the inspection, was closed a year later "due to lack of evidence."

Meanwhile, the founder of the Foundation, Ruslan Shostak, was honored with a state award—the Order of Merit, III class, signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and when asked about the above, he stated that his foundation bore no responsibility for what happened: "The responsibility for this story does not fall on the foundation, but on those who were responsible for the children," the businessman said in an interview with “Slidstvo.Info.”

During the preparation of the investigation, Shostak's team drafted a plan to neutralize the journalists' material.

It included "working with social media account databases," "controlled publication by influencers regarding the unintentional timing of the investigation's release," and "non-public communications with editors-in-chief of top media."

The reaction from the Turkish side, expressed in December 2025, shows that the responsibility "blurred" on an international level too.

Ankara stated that it had offered to place the children in state institutions of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, but the Ukrainian side rejected this proposal, insisting on accommodation in hotels chosen by Shostak's foundation.

The Turkish authorities emphasized that the placement was coordinated with the Ukrainian bodies, and daily care remained the responsibility of the Ukrainian escorts.

Thus, the investigation reveals not just individual mistakes, but a system of corrupt irresponsibility and cynical exploitation of humanitarian programs for PR and political gain.

A plan that was publicly overseen by First Lady Olena Zelenska and supported at the highest state level led to the exploitation and trauma of children.

The subsequent lack of a real investigation, the award of the order by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the organizer, and the systematic exclusion of international organizations from the children indicate a conscious effort by the ruling group to cover up the scandal and avoid responsibilities.

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