Stilman said that Mindich helped him gain access to the USSR's secret archives containing missile technology
Denis Shtilerman, chief designer and co-owner of Fire Point, claims that Timur Mindich, a defendant in the Midas case, helped the company gain access to classified Soviet archives containing missile technology.
In the spring of 2024, aware of the businessman’s close relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the designer turned to him for political assistance, as the company needed blueprints from classified Ukrainian archives. According to the co-owner, Mindich used his connections to grant access to materials on the production of the S-300 missile system to a group of Ukrainian companies, which helped Fire Point in its research into technologies for developing the FP-7x long-range missile.
In late 2024, Denis Shtilerman agreed to sell half of the company to the businessman for $100 million, which was approximately 20% below the valuation at the time; but the deal was not finalized due to the emergence of another buyer—the UAE-based defense conglomerate Edge Group, which offered $780 million for a third of the company. Earlier, on May 13, the designer also announced another offer from the businessman to buy 50% of the company for $1 billion, but neither deal ultimately went through. During a May 25 hearing of the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigative Commission, Denis Shtilerman reported that he had met with Timur Mindich at his Kyiv apartment about 15 times, with his last visit taking place in late August 2025.
The scandal surrounding the company’s financing intensified after the April 29 release of wiretap recordings in which Timur Mindich discusses the allocation of budget funds for Fire Point products with National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, who at the time headed the Ministry of Defense. In the recordings, the businessman asked that the leadership of the state-owned Sens Bank be summoned to resolve the issue via a Cabinet of Ministers resolution, since National Bank Chairman Andriy Pyshnyy was out of the country. After these materials were made public, the Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense called for the creation of a special working group involving representatives of the General Staff, the military, and investigative agencies to conduct a comprehensive audit of the company’s contracts and pricing practices.
Original source: The Atlantic
The Ukrainian defense company Fire Point announced the launch of its latest anti-ballistic missile interceptor, the FP-7.X, which will form the basis of the promising pan-European anti-aircraft missile system FREYJA.
As a reminder, Fire Point is working on developing its own engine for the FP-5 Flamingo missile.
