Searches targeting Oleksiy Babenko, co-owner of the Babel online publication and owner of the Ukrainian drone manufacturing company Vyriy Industries, are linked to the possible overpricing of unmanned aerial vehicles supplied to the state under multi-billion hryvnia contracts in 2025.

"Investigators are verifying a possible artificial inflation of the cost of drones supplied to the state under multi-billion hryvnia contracts in 2025," the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) press service told to Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

According to the Bureau, the price increase could have occurred due to the groundless inclusion of inflated production, administrative, and other expenses in the cost of production.

Vyriy Industries posted a statement on its official website emphasizing that "a coordinated information campaign has been deployed" against them and the company's CEO Oleksiy Babenko.

"Today, law enforcement agencies are conducting searches at the company. Vyriy Industries cooperates with authorized bodies and provides all necessary information within the framework of current legislation," the statement reads.

"The company does not rule out that the simultaneous emergence of the information campaign and investigative actions may be part of attempts to discredit Vyriy Industries. Such actions could benefit both the enemy and unscrupulous market participants with the aim of disrupting the supply of drones to the Ukraine Defense Forces and slowing down the development of the Ukrainian defense-industrial complex," according to the statement.

Earlier, Babel editor-in-chief Kateryna Kobernyk reported on Facebook that SBI employees had been conducting searches since morning at the homes of Oleksiy Babenko, his brother, his mother, and at the Vyriy Industries company itself.

"In the morning, the SBI came with searches to the owner of Vyriy Industries and co-owner of Babel Oleksiy Babenko, his brother, mother, and to the company. According to our information, he is suspected of overpricing drones, entering into fictitious contracts, etc. They found $3,500 at his home and seized all information from his phone," she wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

The SBI confirmed the fact of the searches to Interfax-Ukraine at the time, without specifying details.

According to Kobernyk, Babenko was named as the client behind Babel's investigation into the deaths of servicemen in the 425th separate assault regiment Skelya. "They wrote that he encroached on state security, is at war with the state and the General Staff. (...) Just a couple of days ago, a message even appeared that searches were underway at Oleksiy's home and investigators seized $5 million. ...back then it was a fake." Kobernyk also expressed "surprise" at the allegations of overpricing drones: "because any person even slightly connected to this market knows that Vyriy's prices are actually among the cheapest."

"Given the huge pressure that the editorial office has been experiencing after the publication of the investigation into Skelya, this news, to put it mildly, leads us to very bad conclusions. I can only say that the accusations against Babenko will change nothing in our work in general, and with this topic in particular," the Babel editor-in-chief emphasized.

Vyriy Industries (or Vyriy, manufacturer of Vyriy drones) is a Ukrainian defense technology company and one of the largest manufacturers of FPV drones and components for them. The owner and head of Vyriy Industries is Oleksiy Babenko.

As reported, Babel published an investigation into the 425th separate assault regiment Skelya. In particular, according to the publication, at least 26 people died among the recruits of the 425th separate assault regiment Skelya from the end of 2025 to the spring of 2026, and these deaths were not the result of combat operations. Relatives of some of the deceased claim untimely medical assistance and potential violence.