As the ongoing large-scale corruption scandal is rocking Ukraine, arrest hearings for suspects keep revealing new details of what investigators say is a $100-million scheme.
One of them, on Nov. 13, uncovered startling connections to Ukraine’s star missile and drone maker, Fire Point, confirming an earlier report by the Kyiv Independent.
The National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine, or NABU, has charged Timur Mindich, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky, with corruption over a kickback scheme involving contractors building defenses for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Several other figures high in the Zelensky administration are implicated.
While the case focuses on energy, the name of Fire Point has come up regularly. Fire Point is a defense contractor that emerged suddenly in 2023 and makes the FP-1 long-range strike drones and the “Flamingo” cruise missile. The Kyiv Independent reported in August that Fire Point was the subject of an investigation into defense corruption that in part explored its connections to Mindich.
Ihor Fursenko, one of the “back office” employees allegedly laundering money from the scheme, was formally employed at Fire Point to save him from mobilization and get authorization to leave Ukraine, according to a snippet of dialogue released in the trial.
In the tape, Fursenko is speaking with Oleksandr Tsukerman, another charged businessman in the case who Zelensky subsequently sanctioned. Tsukerman was responsible for this “back office,” and can be heard asking specifically if Fursenko had managed to get a formal job at Fire Point.
The answer from Fursenko was yes.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) prosecutor said that according to their data, Fursenko had been employed as an administrator at Fire Point since March 19, 2025.
“We also note the existence of (Fursenko’s) international passport and that in the period from January 2018 through Aug. 22, 2025, he traveled abroad 26 times, including during martial law.”
Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country, with few exceptions. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry allocates special privileges to preferred defense contractors during war time, including exemptions for a certain number of male employees from both mobilization and travel restrictions.
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