"Get these mafia Ukrainians out of here!": a scandal erupted in Vietnam involving Ukrainian orphans and their guardian

Recently, Ukrainian Olga Podusova stated that she and the children she cares for became victims of violence by employees of a Vietnamese school that had previously accepted the children for education during the war in Ukraine. She reported the incident on her Facebook page. This page is now closed, but the information Olga published caught our attention. UNN decided to investigate what happened, what the position of the parties to the conflict is, and whether Ukrainian diplomats are aware of the situation.

Beating of children

The incident, which Olga reported in her post, occurred on April 17 in Ho Chi Minh City. According to the woman, she wanted to discuss the extension of the visa, which expires on May 16, with the director of "APU International School". The children have been at this school since November 2022. In total, there are 15 children, including one boy with autism.

"The school director, Mr. Tri Tran, hit my hand and pushed me. He started shouting that I was stalking him. Several of my children saw this and ran up to the director, screaming for them to let me go, while others filmed it on their phones. The chief doctor, Binh Tran, shouted at the security guards: "Throw these mafia Ukrainians out of here!" The security guards grabbed me and seven children by the legs and stomach, pushed us, and threw us out of the APU school doors," Olga wrote on her Facebook page.

However, according to her, the children continued filming, after which the security guards went berserk and started chasing the children around the yard. Further, according to Olga's description, a real drama unfolded, in which the children became victims of beatings by school staff.

"Nastya hit her head and still continued to hide the phone with the video, but three men started kicking the girl, and then all three sat on her, trying to get the phone out of her hands," she writes.

16-year-old Anastasia, who, according to Olga, has epilepsy, fainted from the beating. Also, the guards hit 14-year-old Khrystyna with an umbrella cane on the head, as a result of which she also fainted. During the incident, as Podusova writes, other children who were with her also suffered from the actions of the guards.

"Nastya lay on the road near the gate on the school grounds for 2 hours. The police called an ambulance, but the school did not let the ambulance out of the school grounds. The child lay under the gate until night," Olga writes.

According to Olga, the school opened the gates for the ambulance only after she called the wife of the Ukrainian ambassador. Then Olga herself took the injured children to the hospital by taxi.

Olga posted photos and videos with children - we do not publish them for ethical reasons

According to the guardian, the school administration, in order to absolve itself of responsibility and protect itself, called the Ukrainian ambassador to Vietnam, Oleksandr Haman, and slandered her.

"Haman Oleksandr responded to all my evidence of child abuse and unsanitary conditions by saying that it suited me before. And then he started threatening me and sided with the school," Olga wrote.

According to her, Haman told her not to "fuss," because then they would take her children away, deprive her of guardianship, and accuse her of embezzling state funds.

Later, according to Olga, she and the children were generally no longer allowed to leave the school grounds.

"They didn't let us go, today they let us go for powder. They took away 3 phones from us, one of which had a banking app, I'm practically out of money, I buy by barcode. No one tells us why they don't let us go, no one talks to us. We approach the gate, and there's a lock," she says in a comment to UNN.

Olga Podusova also said that such incidents had already happened to her and the children before.

"Similar situations have happened before, they beat me and the children, I even had to undergo surgery because of it. This happened last spring, but I endured it for the sake of the children," she says.

Olga says that the dormitory where she lives with the children is completely unsanitary, with mold, problems with water supply, and fire safety.

"Water pours onto the children's bed, they wake up completely wet, after which they start coughing badly, and this has been repeatedly recorded by the school nurse," she writes.

To Olga's complaints, the director replied that they live on the 4th floor and it would be very difficult to repair the pipes, so they should endure it.

The Ukrainian woman also complained that she took on all financial expenses: mobile phones, bicycles, school uniforms, and much more.

"I've been with these children for 14 years, what do I earn from them? I'm not a family-type orphanage, I don't have a salary, I don't have work experience. All our money goes to medicine," she complains.

Olga says that they are now waiting for the consul's decision, as they cannot leave Vietnam because they simply do not have money.

It is interesting that a month before the incident, Podusova gave an interview in which she noted that they were treated wonderfully in Vietnam.

"Despite the fact that we are in such a distant and unfamiliar country for most Ukrainians, we feel comfortable here. Vietnamese people are very polite and friendly, they treat children wonderfully. I don't know Vietnamese, but I don't feel like a stranger here," she said in an interview.

School's position

"APU International School" is an international private school, where education is based on the American curriculum, among the teachers there are Americans and Vietnamese, and the owners are Vietnamese.

"To date, APU International School has privately subsidized over $461,000 for 15 Ukrainian children and their guardian, Ms. Olga Podusova. From Monday to Friday, children attend school from 07:30 to 15:30. They are also provided with free school uniforms and books. Three full meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are provided – except for Saturday and Sunday, when the school cafeteria is closed. At this time, food is ordered specifically for the children. The level of educational services, including accommodation and meals, is equal to, if not higher than, that of students from Vietnam, Korea, and the United States of America," the school reported.

According to the institution's administration, the school voluntarily opened its doors and offered support to 14 children, "deprived of parental care," and 1 child with autism (along with his guardian), including scholarships for tuition, accommodation, and meals for each child, averaging $1,800 per child per month.

The children have been at the institution since November 2022.

UNN has a letter that the school administration sent to the Ambassador of Ukraine in Vietnam.

In this letter, the administration, in particular, comments on the situation with the beating:

"Ms. Olga Podusova used intimidation tactics to force the school to continue sponsoring her visa to Vietnam, and she sent a message to the head demanding $800 per month for her to rent a villa by the sea. The reason she made this request is that she does not like the dormitory provided by the school. All day on April 16, 2024, Ms. Podusova walked the corridors, pointing her phone camera at employees, demanding that the school support the extension of her visa to Vietnam. Ms. Podusova visited the HR department at least 6 times and began videotaping one of the HR employees, Ms. Nhut Thi Nguyen, then walked through the corridor and burst into Ms. Anh-Ni Nwin's office (Chief Risk Management Office) to argue with another executive staff member who was holding a conference with Ms. Nwin. When Ms. Nwin calmly and kindly asked her to leave the office if she did not have a scheduled appointment, Ms. Podusova did as she was asked. Nevertheless, four hours later, Ms. Podusova began sending unwanted text messages to Ms. Nwin's number, claiming that she had raised her voice and that Ms. Nwin needed "education."

The school provided its video

Representatives of APU International School also stated in the letter that Olga left the children unsupervised, physically abused them, and exploited them. They cite several situations:

• September 2023: Approximately one year after their arrival, elementary school teachers began to notice signs of physical abuse of one child. The signs of abuse were not isolated and were noticed by more than one educator. When attempts were made to question the children, they refused to speak.
• From November 2023 to April 2024: At least 4 times, Olga Podusova left the children unsupervised in the evening - from 9:00 PM until deep into the night.
• From November 2023 to April 2024: Olga Podusova took underage children to a local Russian bar after school hours and forced them to "work" in the bar from 4:30 PM to 10:00 PM. This led to the children falling asleep during class the next day. In addition, these children traveled to the Russian bar by bicycle on a large highway where there were no bicycle paths. As the school administrators clarify - "This is incredibly dangerous, given the number of 18-wheel trucks and double-decker tourist buses that traveled on the specified highway. However, when questioned, Ms. Podusova carelessly justified her danger to the children and called the underage children's visits to an establishment serving alcohol 'internships'."

The school says that due to such incidents, they began to strictly enforce a curfew - exactly at 9:00 PM. This, as stated in the letter, outraged Olga, who demanded "free" time to be able to leave the children unsupervised.

"She often attends dance classes and nightclubs. When she couldn't enjoy her weekly dance club escapades, Ms. Podusova cited a 'mental disorder' because she was 'locked up' in 'prison.' One time, when she returned only after 1:00 AM and was not allowed into the school, she forced her children to go out and slept with them on the sidewalk until 4:00 AM," APU International School reported.

What outside observers and the Ukrainian diaspora say

The situation is actively discussed on social networks. It turns out that Olga and her children have already attracted attention.

"Olga on her Facebook subtly begged for money from subscribers, without revealing the real picture and saying that they suddenly felt bad at the school where they spent 17 months. But if you think that this is the first conflict and the language barrier is to blame, then almost the same story happened in Poland. There, Olga also at the beginning of the war attracted the attention of Polish guardianship services with her inadequate extortionate behavior, and there, too, the question arose of depriving her of her guardianship rights," writes Olga's subscriber.

In addition, the Ukrainian diaspora in Vietnam knows about Olga.

"There is a large community of Ukrainians in Da Nang. We offered help, to come, sort things out, a translator, etc. She blocks us and deletes comments. She doesn't need the help she emphasizes, she just needs someone to collect money for her, it's unclear why and where the amount of $25,000 came from," they write in the comments.

One of the representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora offered Olga free translator services to resolve the conflict, as she does not understand English, but she ignored the help.

Also in the comments, we found a person who allegedly directly participated in Olga's communication with the school and the embassy.

"I was involved in helping with communication between the school and Olga, the school and the Embassy of Ukraine, and carriers at the initial stage. It was stated that the school provides education, flights, accommodation on the school grounds, meals, school uniforms, and textbooks for children for the period of study at the school. I personally clarified Olga's financial situation to meet her and the children's needs, but this question was met with aggression," Iryna Shevchuk wrote under Olga's post.

Ultimately, all negative comments were later deleted. When asked by UNN why Olga deleted the comments, she replied: "Regarding me blocking some people. Firstly, I don't know who they are, secondly, many people write, and then it turns out that these are people from the school, so I am careful about this situation and don't trust anyone."

How the Embassy of Ukraine reacts

To get a complete picture of the situation, UNN contacted the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Oleksandr Haman.

"We received a message from the school because a conflict arose at the initiative of Olga Podusova. There was no direct appeal from Olga to us regarding this situation. Only later did I try to talk to her and somehow resolve what happened," Haman told UNN, commenting on the beating that occurred on April 17.

He added that the consul had already arrived to Olga and they were trying to resolve the situation.

According to him, during the conversation with Olga, the woman never reported that her children were being beaten or had been beaten. The only complaints were that she did not want to live in the dormitory and asked to rent a villa.

He also commented on the funding situation. According to him, it is not true that Olga financed everything herself.

"A month ago, we appealed to our guardianship authorities in the Odesa region to help resolve some issues, because there were already certain discrepancies. It turned out that Ms. Podusova received certain funds for the children and is their official guardian. The fact that Olga took on all the financing of the children is not true. Staying in Vietnam, studying at school, accommodation, meals, school uniforms, and books - all this was purchased at the expense of sponsors. If we are talking about some additional things, such as sweets, for example, then perhaps she bought them for them, using funds from collections that she periodically announced on Facebook or other social networks," Haman said.

He believes that this conflict has gone too far, so they are working to bring the children back to Ukraine.

"Given that the conflict has gone too far, the school refused to continue the program of assistance to Podusova's children. We officially appealed to the Ukrainian guardianship authorities to ensure the return of the children to Ukraine, we hope that this will happen very quickly. We are working on this, because there are 15 children, and Olga's sole accompaniment will not be enough. And, as far as I know, Olga has no desire to return to Ukraine," he added.

Haman also explained that regarding the accusations made by the school: "The guardianship authorities in Ukraine will investigate these cases, where the question will be raised whether they will leave her as a guardian after such situations or not."

"What she says, that she and the children are not allowed to go to Ukraine - this is not true. In the coming days, the children will be returned to Ukraine, where the guardianship authorities will decide their fate," he concluded.

We also learned that Olga is not new to scandals.

In 2021, Olga Podusova stated on social media that children she had taken guardianship over were deliberately not being returned to her, so that they would remain in the orphanage system. She even organized a rally near the center for psychological and social rehabilitation in Odesa, where the children were staying.

Natalia Utyupina, head of the regional children's services, then reported that Podusova had submitted a refusal to register the children for the search of potential adoptive families.

UNN will keep the situation under control, because the main thing in this situation is the children, their safety and health.