The State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) discovered as early as 2024 that Fire Point was overpricing its drones for the defense forces by 70%. This is according to the results of an audit of the company’s contracts, which absorbed tens of billions of hryvnias from the state budget. Despite the official findings of the auditing authorities, the firm continues to receive state funding, while key figures in the alleged corruption scheme have avoided accountability.
Shortly after the review of the defense procurement contracts was completed, radical changes took place within the agency’s leadership. SSSCIP Head Yuriy Myronenko was dismissed, and the agency itself was removed from its previous reporting line and subordinated directly to the Cabinet of Ministers.
During this period, the Ministry of Defense was headed by Rustem Umerov. His name appears on the recently leaked «Mindich tapes,» where a 20% kickback from 331 billion hryvnias in defense procurement was discussed. Denys Shmyhal was the Prime Minister at the time of the audit and later assumed the post of Minister of Defense following Umerov.
A timeline analysis reveals that a broad circle of top officials and key players in the Ukrainian defense market was well aware of the large-scale misappropriation in UAV production long before the audio recordings of businessman Tymur Mindich were made public. However, no public actions or criminal proceedings followed.
«Long before the publication of the tapes, a fairly wide circle of officials and defense market participants was aware of the massive theft involving Fire Point drones. Yet, everyone chose to remain silent.»
As of today, Tymur Mindich has left the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, Fire Point has not been barred from executing state contracts. The company regularly announces the development of new technological solutions and continues to sit on state budget streams as one of the largest beneficiaries in the unmanned aviation sector. The question of who the actual owner and ultimate beneficiary of the company is remains open.