Mike Pompeo joins advisory board of scrutinized Ukrainian defense firm Fire Point
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the advisory board of a Ukrainian defense company known for its Flamingo long-range missiles, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Nov. 17, citing the company's executives.
Fire Point, a private defense contractor that emerged in 2023, has come under scrutiny, among other reasons, over its alleged links to Timur Mindich, a former close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky implicated in a large-scale corruption scandal.
Pompeo served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the chief of U.S. diplomacy between 2018 and 2021, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term.
While he has not joined the second Trump administration, Pompeo has often advocated for stronger support for Kyiv amid Russia's full-scale invasion.
Fire Point launched its advisory board on Nov. 12, naming Pompeo as a member, Iryna Terekh, the company's chief technology officer, told AP. Three other individuals were also appointed to the board.
The executive linked the move to the company's ambitious expansion plans, as Fire Point reports $1 billion in revenue this year and is constructing a factory in Denmark.
The company's flagship project is Flamingo, a domestically produced missile which was described by Zelensky as "the most successful" missile Ukraine currently has. It has a claimed range of 3,000 kilometers (1,90 miles) and a 1,150-kilogram warhead.
Company executives told AP that the Flamingo has been tested on the battlefield at least four times.
The Ukrainian military most recently confirmed the missile's use during a series of combined long-range strikes against occupied territories in Crimea, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and on Russian soil overnight on Nov. 13.
In August, the Kyiv Independent's investigation revealed that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is probing Fire Point over concerns that it inflated the value of components or the number of drones it delivers to the army, or both.
The investigation also pointed to possible links between the company and Mindich, a connection further backed by findings of an ongoing corruption investigation into the businessman.
Fire Point has denied any links to Mindich, who investigators say was the leading figure in a $100 million money laundering scheme in the energy sector. Mindich has since then fled Ukraine and was sanctioned by Kyiv.
Terekh told AP that Fire Point "completely" supports the investigation and said it had commissioned an international firm to audit Fire Point's pricing and production.
