On 2 September 2025, Olha Rudenko, the editor-in-chief of The Kyiv Independent, reported that the outlet had received a letter from Fire Point, a Ukrainian arms industry company, in which the company’s CEO, Yehor Skalyha, threatened to file a legal complaint against the media outlet.
According to Rudenko, Skalyha demanded the retraction of a Kyiv Independent report on a probe by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) into the company’s activities. The letter from the CEO of Fire Point did not refute The Kyiv Indepdent’s news coverage: instead, it referenced a public statement by NABU that did not specify whether Fire Point was under scrutiny, and only indicated that an investigation linked to a Ukrainian missile production project was underway.
In his letter, Skalyha threatened to file a complaint with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), alleging that The Kyiv Independent’s report amounted to high treason and was “designed to disrupt Ukraine’s missile programme.” Rudenko described this as an attempt to pressure the newsroom and intimidate other journalists investigating Fire Point. She added that The Kyiv Independent would provide Fire Point with an “argumented answer” and that the outlet would not modify the article in question.