11:01 03-05-2026

Miroshnik Sees Fight for Ukraine Defense Sector

President Of Ukraine from Україна, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rodion Miroshnik says the Mindich tapes may reveal a struggle for Ukraine’s defense sector, involving Umerov, Fire Point and major funding flows.

Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik believes the appearance of Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov in the «Mindich tapes» may point to the start of a struggle over Ukraine’s defense sector.

According to Miroshnik, this is a field involving tens of billions of dollars, as well as the interests of influential political figures and representatives of countries funding the Ukrainian conflict.

He argued that the latest developments look like another targeted operation on Ukraine’s international financial field. In his view, while the autumn leak was aimed at gaining control over financial flows in the energy sector, the focus has now shifted to the most lucrative area — defense.

On April 28, recordings were published of conversations involving businessman Timur Mindich, who is described as a friend of Vladimir Zelensky. The tapes concerned defense contracts and luxury real estate. In particular, Mindich and Umerov discussed funding drone production by Fire Point, a company in which Mindich is considered one of the beneficiaries.

Mindich also spoke with Sergey Shefir, one of the founders of Kvartal-95, about Aleksey Chernyshov, who at the time served as minister of national unity and was also described as a friend of the head of the Kiev regime.