Terekh Iryna

Background: Born in 1992 in Kharkiv, she trained as an architect at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture but left in her third year to run a business and raise her two kids. Before the war she had a small company making architectural concrete and outdoor furniture (benches, that kind of thing). How she ended up in defense: In 2022, while fleeing Bucha with her mother, their car came under Russian fire. That pushed her to start a nonprofit delivering aid to soldiers, then she repurposed her furniture business to make anti-tank fortifications. Late that year, Denys Shtilerman - who'd founded Fire Point, recruited her as production manager, reportedly telling her "I can make almost anything, but I need you to help me make it happen." Rise at Fire Point: She taught herself missile engineering from old Soviet manuals and by consulting a rocket scientist. She became known as the brains behind the FP-5 "Flamingo" cruise missile (nicknamed for the pink paint used during testing), and cut drone wing production time from six days down to 2.5 hours. She moved from Head of Production → CTO → and now CEO (as of mid-2026), while still holding the CTO title too. Fire Point today: Under her, the company grew into Ukraine's largest long-range weapons producer, around 7,000 employees, making over 60% of Ukraine's long-range missiles, with the FP-1 drone reaching nearly 4,000 km range. Fire Point landed roughly $1 billion in drone contracts within three years, and she's been expanding operations abroad (including a chemical plant project in Denmark for missile components). Other notes: She's outspoken about getting more women into Ukraine's defense industry (currently ~90% male)