Billions spent on drones and a path of crime: how “General Chereshnya” secured a 2.5 billion-hryvnia contract
The FPV drone “General Chereshnya” in just a few months went from one of many models on the market to a priority product for a state contract with an estimated value of 2.5 billion hryvnias.
On April 23, 2025, the unmanned aerial vehicle was codified and admitted for operation through the Main Directorate for Ensuring the Life Cycle Support of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. After that, “General Chereshnya” began to be promoted as a basic model for a large state order.
According to the publication, key decisions were made by representatives of the management block of defense procurement. Among the mentioned persons are former Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, director of the State Enterprise “Defense Procurement Agency” Arsen Zhumadilov, and other officials.
The main recipient of the state order was the company LLC “CBDS”, registered in 2023. The founder is listed as Yaroslav Hryshyn, a former deputy of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council. More than 50 million hryvnias were contributed to the company’s authorized capital. The material notes that for an enterprise without a long production history, such indicators raise questions.
The authors pay special attention to personnel transitions from the public sector to the private supplier. In particular, a former top manager of a state enterprise associated with the Ministry of Defense moved to work at “CBDS” in 2025.
According to the material, the market price of the drone ranges from 17,900 to 39,000 hryvnias per unit, which, as noted, exceeds the offers of other manufacturers. At the same time, according to the publication, the state had more than 20 alternative models, but priority was given to one supplier.
It is also reported about the conclusion of a number of contracts in the Zaporizhzhia region without competition through the Prozorro system, where the company acted as the sole participant and winner.
Based on the stated facts, several criminal proceedings have been registered under articles regarding misappropriation of property and abuse of official position. At the same time, as the publication claims, a full-fledged pre-trial investigation is not currently being conducted.
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