Police are investigating possible labor and sexual exploitation of students by the leadership of the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (KNUKiM) and the private Kyiv University of Culture (KUC). These universities are linked to Mykhailo Poplavsky.
This became known from a ruling of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv.
As the investigation found, students were unofficially involved in work at the institutions "Pan Cheburek" and "Batkivska Khata", and individual female students were involved in private events with possible sexual exploitation. Moreover, the management took advantage of their financial or academic dependence.
The document mentions the acting rector of KNUKiM, whom the investigation links to communication about the so-called employment of students. In February 2026, he became Ihor Komarnitsky.
Investigators have identified 60 students from two educational institutions who were involved in working at Poplavskyʼs restaurants. The police will check their payments for over two years to find out who transferred the money, how much, and what the purpose of the transfers was.
Poplavsky and his university
Mykhailo Poplavsky was the rector of KNUKiM from 1995 to 2014. He was also an MP of the 4th, 7th, and 8th convocations.
In 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the law on higher education, which prohibited the appointment of rectors to those MPs who voted for the "dictatorial laws" on January 16, 2014 (Poplavsky was among them). In 2017, this provision was repealed by the Constitutional Court.
Poplavsky circumvented the requirements of the new law and became not the rector, but the president of KNUKiM, while effectively retaining the leadership of the university. In 2021, he was re-elected to the position of president, which he has retained to this day.
Poplavsky has been repeatedly accused of exploiting students to promote his own work. There have also been allegations of sexual harassment.
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