Czech company sold drones to Ukraine at prices dozens of times above cost
The Czech company Reactive Drone is suspected of having supplied Chinese drones to the Ukrainian military with a markup dozens of times higher than the purchase price and of possibly engaging in tax evasion.
This was reported by Radiožurnál, citing an investigation by the National Centre for Combating Organised Crime (NCOZ).
According to investigators, in 2023–2024 Reactive Drone bought drones worth roughly 36 million Czech crowns and sold them on to Ukraine for 692 million. This pushed the margin to almost 95%, by their estimates. Such a profit level is not a violation in itself, but the company’s subsequent financial operations drew the attention of law enforcement.
Investigators found that the company transferred most of the funds received – around 638 million crowns – to accounts in China without properly declaring them in Czechia or paying tax on them. The preliminary estimate of losses to the state is at least 130 million crowns, and this amount could rise if the scheme was also used in 2025 on a larger scale.
Police have brought charges against the company itself, its director and its accountant. According to the investigation, they underreported their taxable income by issuing fake invoices for goods that were never actually delivered. The director has been taken into custody, while the accountant has admitted her involvement and remains under investigation at liberty.
During searches, law enforcement officers seized accounting records, electronic media and other evidence, and also froze around 384 million crowns in various currencies held in Reactive Drone’s accounts. Police believe this amount may be sufficient to cover the potential loss to the state.
Reactive Drone was founded in June 2022, a few months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The company had only a virtual registered office in Prague. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry has so far not responded to Czech journalists’ requests for comment on the case.
Company’s response
Reactive Drone rejects the allegations that it sold drones to Ukraine and describes the investigation as "orchestrated". The company insists it has never exported ready-made drones to Ukraine, a company representative told hromadske.
According to him, Reactive Drone did not buy ready-made UAVs in China but supplied components to Ukraine for the production of heavy strike drones. On paper, these shipments were declared as civilian goods authorised for export, such as "spare parts for radio-controlled toys" and "webcams".
The company claims this was the only way to circumvent Chinese restrictions on supplying drone parts to Ukraine. It argues that the "markup" cited in the media is in fact the difference between the declared value of the "legal" goods and the real price of components for military drones.
Reactive Drone calls the case "fake" and "orchestrated" and alleges that the investigation was initiated by staff of Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). According to this version, SBI officers passed false information to the Czech side and exposed the system for bypassing China’s export restrictions in order to "forcibly wipe out independent drone manufacturers and leave only ‘their own’ companies on the market".
As reported earlier, the US Army plans to purchase at least 1 million drones over the next two to three years as part of a large-scale rearmament programme and preparation for a possible confrontation with China.
