Babenko Oleksii Mykolaïovych

Founder of "Vyriy Industry," drone billionaire who bought "Babel"

A Kyiv native (born 1998), sociologist by education, before the war — co-founder of the fire theater Scorpius. Since 2022, he has been collecting drones as a volunteer; LLC "Vyriy Industry" (October 2023) became one of the largest producers of FPV drones — in November 2024 it was the first to release 100% Ukrainian FPV drones. According to Babenko, the profit reached $5 million per month. In February 2026, as an individual, he purchased 75% of the publication "Babel."

Questions from journalists

Investigators ("StopCor" and others) noted: in 2025, the company refused to fulfill some contracts from won tenders, citing lack of capacity; around Babenko appeared a network of related firms winning tenders of the National Police Aviation Support Center (including "Hub of Technological Solutions" led by a dancer from his own fire theater — 126 million UAH in 2026); he himself holds the positions of founder, director, and chief accountant of the company with billion-hryvnia defense contracts. The media also described a closed corporate event at five locations and the purchase of the media outlet as a tool for reputational protection. Among the media clients, even Poroshenko was named.