Media: Mindich and Umerov discussed Fire Point funding

Copied! Ukrainska Pravda has published a portion of the so-called “Mindich tapes” – recordings of conversations involving Timur Mindich, who is named in a National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine investigation into corruption at Energoatom. According to the publication, the sanctioned businessman is heard discussing the financing of defence company Fire Point with then-Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov. In the recordings, the two discuss a funding shortfall at the company, potential production volumes, and the possible sale of a stake in Fire Point to investors. “We need current financing to produce everything – that’s without 120. We’re owed 7 today… We need a little, you understand. 2,000 people are working there, today we need to buy these engines – we’re not asking for our own profit,” Mindich is heard saying (the conversation was conducted in Russian). Umerov reportedly responds by discussing the possibility of raising money from partners. “We’ve put all our profit into the first one, into the five and the seven,” Mindich says. According to Ukrainska Pravda, he is referring to Fire Point products: FP-1, FP-5, and FP-7. The video also claims that FP is capable of producing 7,000 ballistic missiles per year. The company confirmed development of its own ballistic missiles, the FP-7 and FP-9, in September 2025. Its founders had previously hoped the FP-7 would enter service by early 2026. However, the missile’s second test launch only took place on 14 March. Part of the conversation concerns the sale of a stake in the company. According to the recording, potential investors sought to acquire 33% of Fire Point for $600m, with half the sum going to the company and half to its shareholders. The recorded conversation took place in July 2025; the potential stake sale became public knowledge at the end of 2025, when reports indicated that 30% of shares were on the table for approximately $760m. The buyer is EDGE Group, a defence conglomerate owned by a UAE sovereign wealth fund. The deal with EDGE Group was blocked by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. However, as Fire Point CEO Iryna Terekh has stated, the company has already submitted a second application. Read more : Iryna Terekh on becoming Fire Point CEO and the antitrust setback in the EDGE Group deal The press service of Rustem Umerov, now Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, told Interfax that Umerov had provided law enforcement with all necessary explanations on matters of interest to them, and that he has no right to comment on materials from criminal proceedings. On the question of potentially lobbying for companies before foreign investors, the press service stated: “If a foreign party is considering several Ukrainian companies and asks for the position of the Ukrainian government, this is normal intergovernmental work, not the protection of private interests.” Timur Mindich told Ukrainska Pravda that he is prepared to comment only after being questioned by NABU, and described the information regarding Fire Point as an attempt to discredit the best company in Ukraine. The company itself had previously maintained that Mindich was never a shareholder of Fire Point, although he had sought to acquire a 50% stake in the project in 2024. Defender Media reached out for comment to Fire Point’s press office as well as the company’s CEO, Iryna Terekh. As of Wednesday evening, no response had been received. After the publication of the recordings, Rustem Umerov and the co-founders of Fire Point, Denys Shtilerman and Yehor Skalyha, have been summoned to appear before a temporary investigative commission of the parliament. The letter was published by the commission’s chair, MP Oleksii Honcharenko.