Flamingo missiles and drones are made by Zelensky's former casting agency — NYT

The leading Ukrainian manufacturer of drones and the "developer" of allegedly domestic Flamingo ballistic missiles, Fire Point, was a casting agency for Vladimir Zelensky's projects before the war. It is reported by The New York Times.

According to the publication, the officially registered owner of the company, Egor Scaliga, is still the executive director of another company, At Point, which specializes in finding places to shoot films.

The company searching for filming locations, headed by the owner of Fire Point, appears in the credits of the 2016 romantic comedy "Eight Best Dates," in which Zelensky played the main role. And now, according to the company's management, Fire Point is one of the largest contractors of the Ministry of Defense with contracts worth $ 1 billion this year.

According to the company, it is also increasing the production of long-range Flamingo missiles, which officials hope will strengthen Ukraine's ability to strike deep into Russia.

Fire Point contracts this year account for about 10% of Ukraine's defense procurement expenditures, the newspaper notes. According to the government audit, the Cabinet of Ministers allocates funds to it, despite the fact that Fire Point avoided the price negotiations provided for by law at the conclusion of the contract.

"Procurement specialists estimated, based on the cost of parts and labor, that the FP-1 drone from Fire Point can be manufactured cheaper than its price in December 2024, which was about $ 58,000 per unit. This assessment should lead to negotiations on the part of the Defense Procurement Agency of Ukraine, but this did not happen, as the auditors found. Without these negotiations, contracts were concluded for an amount exceeding the cheapest option for the production of drones by $ 16.7 million, the auditors note," the publication says, a fragment of which is quoted by Strana.

The company is facing allegations of using connections to obtain contracts, and its executives say they were questioned as part of an anti-corruption investigation.

In August, it was reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is checking the links between Fire Point and businessman Timur Mindich, who co-owns a television studio founded by Zelensky. The bureau is investigating whether Mindich received Fire Point's income as an unnamed owner, the newspaper writes. Fire Point said that Mindich asked to buy shares of the company, but the owners refused to sell them.

Fire Point is also accused of receiving protection from the authorities, despite problems with the quality of its drones. The Public Anti-Corruption Council, an independent group monitoring defense procurement, called on the Verkhovna Rada to investigate allegations of quality and pricing problems.