The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the National Police are under scrutiny following a high-profile case involving defense procurement and pressure on the media. The investigation into potential fraud worth 6.95 billion UAH at drone manufacturer Vyriy Industries has been accompanied by a breakdown in inter-agency communication. Meanwhile, threats directed at journalists at Babel—an outlet co-owned by the company’s founder—remain largely unaddressed by procedural actions.
On July 7, the SBI executed over 40 search warrants at properties connected to Vyriy Industries—one of Ukraine’s largest UAV manufacturers—its owner Oleksiy Babenko, his family members, and contracted sole proprietors (FOPs).
Law enforcement officials are investigating the case under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
Misappropriation of property on an exceptionally large scale (Part 5, Art. 191);
Money laundering (Part 3, Art. 209);
Forgery of official documents (Part 2, Art. 205-1).
Investigators suspect the company artificially inflated drone prices under 2025 contracts with the Defense Procurement Agency. According to the State Financial Monitoring Service, a network of over 150 individual entrepreneurs was allegedly used to move roughly 197 million UAH in suspicious transactions. During the raids, officers seized 32 million UAH in cash, which Vyriy Industries stated was allocated for payroll. Currently, Oleksiy Babenko and the company hold witness status in the proceedings.
The raids occurred against the backdrop of a separate controversy. On June 23, 2026, Babel published an investigative report detailing non-combat deaths among recruits in the 425th Separate Assault Battalion «Skelia.» Shortly after, a serviceman from the unit released a video containing explicit verbal attacks and threats against the report’s authors, Kateryna Lykholiad and Kateryna Kobernyk.
A coalition of Ukrainian media organizations—including Mediarukh, Detector Media, and the Institute of Mass Information (IMI)—issued a joint statement urging the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the SBI to immediately register criminal proceedings under Articles 171 and 345-1 of the Criminal Code (obstruction of journalistic activities and threats against journalists).
«Yes, we received an official notification regarding threats to the journalist, registered criminal proceedings, and will verify this information… because pressure and threats are unacceptable,» stated SBI Director Oleksiy Sukhachov in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on July 8.
Despite public statements from the SBI leadership, Babel’s editorial team denied that a case had been formally registered, noting they were never provided a registry number in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ERDR). According to the outlet, the SBI declined to register the report directly and instead transferred the file to the National Police.
The National Police, however, declined to confirm any details. Responding to an inquiry from Detector Media on July 21, the agency cited personal data protection laws and refused to confirm whether a complaint had even been received.
As of late July 2026, neither agency has produced formal documentation confirming that an active investigation into the threats is underway. The situation surrounding Vyriy Industries and Babel underscores ongoing challenges in inter-agency coordination during wartime.