Fire at Ukrainian thermal imaging device factory in Czechia: police suspect terrorist attack
A fire at a facility belonging to Archer LPP in the Czech city of Pardubice, where Ukrainian Archer thermal imaging devices are manufactured, is thought to have been caused by an arson attack.
Source: Archer founder Oleksandr Yaremenko
Details: Yaremenko said a group of masked individuals deliberately set fire to the facility on the night of 19-20 March.
He added that despite the attack, the company intends to fulfil all its contractual obligations and deliver products to its partners on time.
LPP Holding, of which Archer LPP is a part, has confirmed that a fire broke out at one of its facilities on the morning of 20 March, with no casualties reported.
The company said it is cooperating with Czech law enforcement and assisting the investigation, but is not making any assumptions about the cause of the incident at this stage.
Interfax-Ukraine news agency has reported, citing local media outlets, that a warehouse unit was destroyed and the fire spread to a neighbouring office building.
Czech investigators and emergency workers have already begun inspecting the scene, a process that may take several days. According to local media outlets, police are considering the possibility of a terrorist attack.
Olha Duplichuk, spokesperson for Archer LPP, stated that the fire destroyed almost all of the production facility, including finished products.
Background:
- In October 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine conducted searches at the offices and homes of employees of Archer, Ukraine's only manufacturer of cooled thermal imaging sights. The company's operations were temporarily suspended.
- Archer CEO Oleksandr Yaremenko said at the time that the allegations were groundless, adding that investigators had seized equipment and documents during the searches, temporarily paralysing the company's operations.
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