Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the newly created oversight board of Fire Point, one of Ukraine’s fastest-growing and most controversial defense companies, Associated Press reported. The appointment marks a significant step in the company’s efforts to strengthen its international standing as it faces increasing scrutiny at home.
Fire Point — which was virtually unknown before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 and previously operated as a casting agency for film and television — has rapidly transformed into a major defense contractor.
This year alone, the company reports nearly $1 billion in revenue and is expanding production across roughly 30 classified facilities where it manufactures long-range drones using low-cost materials such as foam, plywood, plastic, and carbon fiber. The firm is also building a factory in Denmark to produce essential rocket propellant.
The company launched its new advisory board on Nov. 12, naming Pompeo as its first high-profile member.
“It’s a big honor for us,” Iryna Terekh, Fire Point’s chief technology officer of the investigation, told AP from the factory floor. “Since we are growing into a big international company, we have to ensure we are following the clearest and best corporate standards.”
Three more members are expected to join the oversight board.
“We are rising as a company and we want a wise adviser board to help us establish this work,” Terekh added.
Fire Point’s meteoric ascent has not come without criticism.
The company is currently under intense public scrutiny in an ongoing corruption investigation. Executives insist that the probe targets government officials, not Fire Point itself, and say the firm is cooperating fully under martial-law procedures.
Critics, however, question the company’s opaque origins, the rapid expansion of its Ministry of Defense contracts, and its alleged connections to Tymur Mindich — a longtime associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky who was implicated in a major corruption scandal last week.
According to Ihor Fedirko, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Industry Council, more than 20 companies are now competing in the fast-growing long-range drone and missile sector. Fire Point is among the largest, producing the FP-1 drone, which resembles a small aircraft.
Executives say the company’s newest long-range missile, Flamingo, has already been tested in combat at least four times.
In late August, it struck an FSB facility in Armiansk in occupied Crimea. On Nov.13, it was used to hit targets in the Russian city of Oryol.