A few years ago, she was a young architect designing patio furniture in her native Ukraine. Today, 34-year-old Iryna Terekh is playing a leading role in Ukraine’s defenses as CEO of Fire Point, which manufactures drones and missiles. “I’m one of those women who doesn’t know how to fight,” she wrote on Instagram in March 2022, soon after the Russian attack began, notes the Wall Street Journal. “But I’m sure of one thing: I’ll do absolutely everything in my power to make sure nothing of this sort ever happens in my country again.” Terekh’s long-range weapons already are hitting targets across Russia, but a separate CBS News profile suggests that the most potent one yet is coming.
Terekh tells the outlet that Fire Point is months away from unveiling a ballistic missile, which would be the first one designed and made in Ukraine. Because they follow an arc trajectory, ballistic missiles are harder to intercept than lower-to-the-ground cruise missiles, which would put the capital of Moscow at greater risk. Both profiles detail the weaponry, but they also dig into Terekh’s seemingly unlikely transformation into a key player in her nation’s military capabilities. “When the full-scale invasion started, a lot of people had to review what could be their personal impact,” she says. “You never really know what kind of knowledge and what kind of experience could be transformed and pivoted into something new.”