Ukrainian MilTech company Skyeton, manufacturer of Raybird-3 reconnaissance systems, part of Alexander Stepura and Igor Gapanovich’s Carbon Group, is expanding its presence outside the country and preparing for an IPO.

Skyeton can be called one of the symbols of the technological breakthrough in the defense industry. Raybird-3 reconnaissance systems have been used by the Ukrainian defense forces for many years. After 2022, the revenue of AVK Skyeton LLC grew exponentially, coinciding with the growth in nationwide demand for drones.

In just 2021–2024, AVK Skyeton’s revenue grew 40 times: from less than $2 million to over $77 million. Skyeton expanded its operations in eight jurisdictions, opened a production facility in Slovakia, and in early 2024 took a key step towards an IPO by registering nearly 33 million shares with the Nasdaq CSD depository.

In the context of risks for the company in the process of going public, the media mentioned the group of companies’ long history of court cases and the company’s possible connection with the Mindich brothers, who are involved not only in corruption proceedings in the energy sector, but also in suspicions related to defense projects.

Timur Mindich, Leonid Mindich, and Alexander Stepura

An equally important risk is the potential tax violations that we have analyzed during this investigation.

Known facts of tax violations in the Carbon group

2015. Carbon PRM, which was renamed Wink Trade in 2016, is involved in criminal proceedings for large-scale tax evasion, according to a journalistic investigation. Judging by the fact that this case is not listed in the registers, it did not reach court.

2017. Instrim KT, owned by Oleksandr Stepura until 2016, received a notification-decision from the State Fiscal Service regarding tax accounting violations in 2014. It stated that the company had overstated VAT and expenses in order to reduce income tax. The company was charged additional taxes of over UAH 1.7 million. The tax authorities also considered that transactions with some of the counterparties were fictitious. In 2019, the company appealed to the court to cancel the notice and penalties, and the court upheld the claim.

2023. The Main Directorate of the State Tax Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, following an unscheduled audit, concluded that AVK Skyeton had violated currency legislation, namely, the non-delivery of goods worth EUR 75,000 under an import contract. The company filed a lawsuit demanding that the tax decision be overturned, and the court upheld the claim.

2025. The State Tax Service filed a lawsuit against Skyeton’s chief accountant, accusing the company of overstating its tax credit by UAH 97 million and attempting to obtain a budget VAT refund of over UAH 2 million. The case was closed due to “lack of evidence of wrongdoing.”

Despite the fact that the cases were won by the companies, there is a trend here in the form of repetitive disputes of the same type, as well as potentially fictitious transactions for the purpose of tax minimization.

Property acquired by co-owners since the start of the war in Ukraine

After analyzing cadastral and vehicle registries, we concluded that since the start of the war in Ukraine, Oleksandr Stepura and his family have acquired an apartment, three plots of land, and two cars with a total value of $270,000.

Meanwhile, Roman Knyazhenko, co-owner of Skyeton Holding AS, acquired seven cars with a total value of over $335,000 during the same period. This is despite the fact that he did not have a single car registered to his name until 2022. He also became the owner of an apartment in Kyiv worth about $365,000.

Skyeton legal entities

Skyeton’s growth rate after 2022 was impressive even for the defense industry: from $1.96 million in 2021 to $77 million in 2024. However, along with the growth in financial indicators, the company rapidly restructured its corporate architecture, and it is this transformation that raises the most questions in terms of transparency.

After 2022, Skyeton’s structure began to expand much more actively and now includes eight jurisdictions that perform various functions:

• Estonia — Skyeton Holding AS. A holding company that became the main shareholder of the Ukrainian company. According to the official electronic register, the owners of the company are Oleksandr Stepura, Kostiantyn Shevchenko, and Roman Knyazenko.

• Germany — Skyeton Germany GmbH. Director — Mykyta Stepura

• United Kingdom — Skyeton Trade Ltd and Skyeton Prevail Solutions. Trading companies positioned for future deliveries to NATO, according to an extract from the register, Mykyta Stepura has been appointed director of this legal entity since August 1, 2024.

• Slovakia — Tropozond s.r.o. According to the official register, the owner of the company is Skyeton Holding As, and the supervisor on the board is Lidiya Stepura.

• Switzerland — Skyeton SA — the company is registered as a Société anonyme, and an extract from the register is not available.

• USA — Skyeton LLC — the company is registered in Delaware, where no extracts on the ownership structure of legal entities are provided at all. As of November 2025, there are three companies named Skyeton in the register: SKYETON INC., SKYETON, INC., SKYETON USA INC. According to registration number 10132648, the company is called SKYETON INC.

• Canada — Skyeton Inc — an extract on owners is provided only if you have an account, which requires Canadian tax residency to register.

• Ukraine — the operational center and main manufacturer with the highest financial indicators — AVK SKYETON.

The Estonian website Skyeton lists the legal entities that form the holding company: AVK SKYETON, Tropozond s. r. o., SKYETON HQ LTD, Skyeton SA, Skyeton Inc.

Skyeton Limited is an Irish legal entity founded in May 2022 with its main activity being the provision of business support services. As of the end of 2024, the company had non-current assets of €2.5m.

In their report, they also stated that they had an average of 0 employees per month.

At the same time, its total credit debt amounted to €2.7m. The amount of credit debt has remained unchanged since 2023, which raises questions about the reasons for the lack of movement on such a large loan. As of 2024, the company had a significant negative accounts receivable balance of €62.9k, which is not typical.

Thus, we see a ramified structure in the form of numerous legal entities and a number of court cases in which companies affiliated with the owner of the Carbon group of companies, Alexander Stepura, were systematically suspected of tax violations following a similar pattern. Given the business environment involving figures from high-profile corruption cases, the current situation poses potential risks for investors and may sooner or later attract the attention of law enforcement agencies again.