The head of the Victory Drones project for the technological strengthening of the security and defense forces of Ukraine, Maria Berlinskaya, on the YouTube channel Ukrayinska Pravda, said that at the beginning of the work of the FirePoint company there could have been controversial practices and abuses, but the current role of the company is critical for the defense capability of Ukraine.
“There is an opinion on the market that at the beginning of the founding of the FirePoint company there was a certain lobbying, and they were helped to receive contracts. At the same time, FirePoint products are now actively destroying the Russian oil refining industry and beyond. FirePoint is now the company with the largest capitalization in Ukraine. Thousands of people are involved there. The opinion that the company needs to be nationalized is considered absolutely wrong in the industry for several reasons. The state is a bad owner – this is firstly. Secondly, there will be an outflow of personnel from the company. Thirdly – this precedent will lead to the fact that investors will no longer come to Ukraine, because this is a signal for both Ukrainian and foreign investors that you cannot be sure. To summarize, the opinion in the industry is that there may have been some abuses at the start of the company, but now the company is successful, and now the company is destroying the enemy’s facilities worth billions of dollars. What is needed is a transparent, understandable audit. negotiations, who the beneficiaries are and so on,” the expert said.
Berlinskaya commented on Deepstrike's share in the total volume of government defense procurement.
“Ukraine really needed Deepstrikes at that time, because there was a huge window of opportunity to reboot the Russian air defense at a time when the Russians had no countermeasures. Just as at one time we had no countermeasures for Shahed and they destroyed our cities, so with these Deepstrikes at that moment the Russians had no countermeasures. This is a window of opportunity, because after a while the enemy finds countermeasures, and you can already release 10 times more Deepstrike, but there will be no result. Now we have “unloaded” the Russian air defense to such an extent that they are already running out of missiles for the Pantsirs,” she emphasized.
The head of Victory Drones opposed the nationalization of FirePoint.
“The general opinion in the industry: even if there were abuses at the beginning, if we destroy this company now, we will cause enormous damage to ourselves. This is a shot in the foot. This is not a state position. We should now consider FirePoint as a national treasure. My personal opinion: there are many opportunities for a company that wants to produce Middlestrike, Deepstrike, whatever – the state will buy everything,” Berlinskaya emphasized.
She stated that the defense industry in Ukraine is developing rapidly.
“There is an industry that has developed on steroids in a matter of years. It is a miracle to the world what a technological leap we have made. We understand that one of the leading companies producing Middlestrike and Deepstrike may have allowed some abuses in the early days of its existence. Perhaps, but I would still like to [Национального антикоррупционного бюро Украины] NABU and [Специализированной антикоррупционной прокуратуры Украины] SAP watch real trials and the like. There is a huge manufacturing company with thousands of engineers, and there is [бизнесмен, совладелец студии “Квартал 95” Тимур] Mindich, who may have been involved in all these processes. But Mindich is not an engineer, but [главный конструктор FirePoint Денис] Shtilerman, who, in my opinion and in the opinion of many people in the industry, is now the best engineer in Ukraine, under whose leadership such a campaign was built,” concluded Berlinskaya.
