“Fire Point” connections with Andriy Yermak
Yevhen Skalyha is one of the founders of the “Fire Point” company and its first owner. Before working at “Fire Point”, Skalyha was involved in filmmaking and organizing locations for films and TV projects.
In 2011, Yevhen Skalyha, as the founder of LLC “ET – Point”, signed an open letter to the then-President Petro Poroshenko in support of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema. Among the signatories of this appeal was Andriy Yermak – at that time as the founder of Garnet International Media Group LLC, a film production structure that was actually connected with his media activities. According to publications from 2020, Yermak’s company was among the largest recipients of grants from the State Film Agency.
In 2019, Yevhen Skalyha participated in the film crew of “Babyn Yar. Context”, which was financed through LLC “Solar Media Entertainment”. The film was shot on the order of the “Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center”, founded as a private project. Among the founders of this “Babyn Yar” project were Russians Pavlo Fuks, Mykhailo Fridman, and German Khan. The artistic director of this project was also a Russian – Ilya Khrzhanovsky. According to texty.org.ua Andriy Yermak was the main lobbyist for this project, while Yevhen Skalyha worked on the film crew.
In October 2022, the State Film Agency allocated $0.67 million to LLC “Solar Media Entertainment” for the production of Ukrainian films, which was the second largest grant support among the winning companies. The company was founded by Serhiy Lavreniuk, who is also a business partner of Artem Koliubayev. Koliubayev, in turn, is one of the co-founders of LLC “Ama Vision”, where Andriy Yermak is listed as a co-founder.
Rumors about possible connections between Andriy Yermak and Fire Point have been circulating in the information space for a long time. The aforementioned information, as well as previous contacts in media projects, indicate that Yermak and Skalyha are likely acquainted with each other.
In addition, according to Denys Shtilerman, during the agreement with Denmark, information emerged that the technical director of Fire Point, Iryna Terekh, was allegedly Andriy Yermak’s niece. This almost led to the disruption of the agreement. Shtilerman said that Terekh filed a written statement that she is not Yermak’s niece:
“One of the employees of the Danish embassy ran in, if I’m not mistaken, it was the military attaché, and said that they received letters from your anti-corruption officials, whom he meant, he did not explain, he said that Iryna Terekh is Yermak’s niece,” Shtilerman said.
Connections with Mindich and figures in the “Mindich tapes” case
Fire Point previously attracted the attention of businessman Timur Mindich, who considered becoming a shareholder in the company. The interest arose after the successful testing of drones in an open competition organized by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the US Embassy. However, the deal did not take place. According to Denys, Mindich offered an amount that the company considered insufficient.
Despite this, contact between the parties was maintained. Shtilerman admitted that he visited the so-called “back-office”, which the media associate with Mindich’s entourage, including for meetings with Mykhailo Tsukerman, whom he called his personal banker. Denys Shtilerman himself is referred to by the pseudonym “Electronic” by interlocutors in the materials known as the “Mindich tapes”. Shtilerman insisted that these contacts did not lead to joint business with Mindich, and the relationship was rather informal and, according to him, was supported, in particular, through a shared interest in Jewish culture.
Russian connections of a potential investor
At the end of December 2025, information appeared about a possible deal, according to which EDGE Group – a defense company belonging to the United Arab Emirates – plans to acquire a 30% stake in “Fire Point” for $760 million, with a total company valuation of $2.5 billion.
In February 2023, the head of EDGE Group, Mansour Al Mulla, in an interview, answering a question about the company’s possible investments in Chinese or Russian projects, stated that EDGE “is not tied to specific countries” and has “excellent relations with many partners in China, Russia, and other countries.”
According to the Intelligence Online material, a subsidiary of EDGE Group – Beacon Red, which specializes in cybersecurity, began hiring Russian developers and hackers en masse who left Russia after the start of the full-scale war in November 2022.
Corruption allegations and Fire Point performance issues
According to aerial reconnaissance officer Yuriy Kasyanov, the success of the Fire Point company is largely based not on technical achievements, but on the support of high-ranking state officials, including Zelenskyy, Yermak, and Umerov.
In 2024, the company received $320 million from Denmark – almost a third of the entire long-range drone market in Ukraine, despite the fact that the FP – 1 drones were “raw” at the time: they had basic electronics, flew poorly, and often broke down.
Kasyanov emphasizes that in 2025, funding from Denmark and Germany increased to over 6 billion euros, and the company occupied 70-90% of the Ukrainian drone market. However, these figures do not reflect the true effectiveness of the drones. The FP – 1 often fail to reach their target, the accuracy of destruction is low, and their high price makes operations extremely expensive for the state. According to his calculations, state funds are spent on hundreds of launches, while the real combat value is minimal.
Kasyanov also draws attention to Fire Point’s financial model: the company earns not only from sales but also through additional “European intermediaries,” inflating the prices of components. As a result, according to the serviceman, Fire Point’s success is more a story about money and political connections than about unique technologies, and such a concentration of production and dependence on one company can be a risk for the Ukrainian defense forces.
As soon as Yuriy Kasyanov began publicly criticizing Fire Point, searches and inspections immediately began against him. According to his words, the actions of law enforcement looked more like pressure on a critic than a real investigation: part of his unit was liquidated, and Kasyanov himself was under the supervision of security services and had restricted movement. He emphasizes that such measures are more aimed at silencing those who point out the company’s problems, rather than checking the real effectiveness of the drones or Fire Point’s financial schemes.
Leak of project documentation
In November, information appeared about the leak of Fire Point project documentation, which, according to Shtilerman himself, had the status of a state secret. According to the co-owner of Fire Point, he does not plan to explain the reasons and details of the leak, leaving the investigation to law enforcement. Shtilerman also stated that he does not see a serious danger in the Russians accessing this information, as the company’s products are created using simple technologies that are easy to scale.
At the same time, this situation raises questions about compliance with confidentiality and security rules: in an interview, Denys Shtilerman noted that all Fire Point employees undergo polygraph testing every six months, which should have guaranteed control over leaks, but obviously did not prevent the documentation from being distributed.
In conclusion, the history of Fire Point raises a number of questions regarding the reasons for the company’s rapid growth, its investors, the circle of contacts, and the real effectiveness of its products. Data on the connections of the company’s founders with political figures, potential investors, and participants in other high-profile stories are featured in open sources.
Separate attention is drawn to the terms of state funding and the military’s assessment of the quality of the drones. Many questions require additional verification, and it is law enforcement agencies that can establish how much the company’s activities comply with the law and real results.