Zhumadilov confirmed at Temporary Investigation Commission that he had met and spoken with Mindich and Umerov about bulletproof vests
Arsen Zhumadilov, head of the Defence Procurement Agency, confirmed that in March 2025, he met with Rustem Umerov, then Ukraine’s Minister of Defence and current Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, and Tymur Mindich, a businessman suspected of corruption, and discussed bulletproof vests with them.
He spoke about this during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada’s temporary investigative commission on 13 May regarding the ‘Midas’ case, reports Censor.NET.
At the meeting with Umerov and Mindich
As Zhumadilov recounted, Umerov rang him last March and invited him to dinner.
Umerov took Zhumadilov to a meeting at a flat, where Mindich and an Israeli citizen, who spoke only English, were present.
The head of the ВЗФ said he had not expected to see Mindich there. Furthermore, Zhumadilov claims that prior to this meeting, he was not acquainted with Mindich.
According to Zhumadilov, during dinner "we mostly talked about general things", at which point Mindich asked: "What’s the situation with the bulletproof vests?"
"He said there was a contract for the bulletproof vests, that we’d invested in it, and asked what would happen with it. I said that if the bulletproof vests were of good quality, we’d accept them, but if they were poor quality, we wouldn’t," said the head of the ВЗФ.
Zhumadilov added that after that dinner, he had not seen, spoken to or corresponded with Tymur Mindich again.
Appearing as a witness in the case
He also emphasised that NABU officials had questioned him in the "Mindich tapes" case. Zhumadilov noted that he is appearing as a witness in this case.
- It should be recalled that in journalist Tetiana Nikolaienko’s article "How Umerov bought bulletproof vests from Mindich, and how he violated the DPA to do so", it is stated that Timur Mindich, co-owner of the "Kvartal-95" studio, was behind the corrupt scheme involving the bulletproof vest contract.
