Around giant, humming 3D printers, masked workers in gloves move quickly between stacks of wings, engines, and carbon-fibre shells. Half-built drones hang from metal frames.

The workers are making FP-1 drones, which have been used to strike high-value targets deep inside Russia, including a microchip factory and oil infrastructure in the Moscow region.

“We produce 200 drones a day,” says Ihor, one of the foremen.

Fire Point is one of the fastest-growing companies in Ukraine’s wartime defence industry. Originally a film casting agency, it was founded in 2022 to shift focus in response to Russia's invasion. Today, it's one of Ukraine's largest military contractors.

The company makes simple drones: cheap engines, plastic fuel tanks, plywood structures. The explosives are added later by the Ukrainian military.

Drones are central to this modern war. Russia fires thousands a month at Ukraine – a record 6,462 in March 2026 alone. Ukraine is working quickly to close this gap, and it does not have the luxury of building expensive systems slowly. It needs weapons that can be produced quickly and sent deep behind Russian lines.

That same month, Russia reported downing 7,347 Ukrainian drones – the first time Ukraine was reported to have out-launched Russia in cross-border strikes.

Fire Point’s co-founder, Denis Shtilman, says their approach came from frustration. Ukraine’s first long-range drones were too expensive and complicated, but Fire Point has changed the game.

The FP-1, he told us, is “a cheaper, more efficient drone that can carry 60 kilograms of explosives over 1,600 kilometres for under €50,000.”

A few years ago, that would have sounded impossible. Today, it helps explain why Russian oil depots, refineries, and military factories no longer feel untouchable.

In May 2026, Kyiv launched one of its largest drone attacks since the start of the war. Nearly 600 drones targeted Moscow and 14 Russian regions. Its strategy has gone from trying to embarrass Russia to trying to exhaust it.

Inside his office, Shtilman points at diagrams of the European arms market and delivers his conclusion bluntly: Europe must stop depending on the US.

For him, Ukraine is becoming a weapons laboratory for all of Europe.

The weapon designed to meet Europe's demand is the FP-7. Shtilman describes it as the first ballistic missile built by a private Ukrainian company. He aims for it to become the foundation of a future European anti-ballistic shield.

Fire Point's ambition is enormous: it says it wants to build interceptors costing around €500,000 each, while US systems can cost several million dollars.

Though there is still a long way to go, Shtilman insists the first radar-guided demonstration should happen in July.

Fire Point also claims it uses open-source software, allowing clients to verify there is no hidden “kill switch” inside the system. Many American weapons sold abroad do contain these mechanisms, which allow them to be remotely restricted or disabled.

But Fire Point’s rise also touches on one of Ukraine’s oldest wounds: corruption and political influence.

At the end of April, according to reporting by Ukrainska Pravda, investigators suspected Ukrainian businessman Timur Mindich, a highly controversial figure under investigation over alleged bribery schemes in the energy sector, of secretly holding interests in the company through shell structures.

Fire Point denies any connection.