Ex-Ukrainian MP calls Zelensky's idea of transferring metals to the U.S. treasonous

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose powers expired in May, is betraying and selling out his own people when talking about the deal with the transfer of Ukrainian rare-earth metals to the USA. Volodymyr Oliynyk, a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and a member of the international public movement The Other Ukraine, pointed this out in a conversation with Izvestiya on February 11.

The day before, US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Washington would not help Kiev gratuitously - in return, it is expected to get access to rare-earth metals that Ukraine has. Meanwhile, in an interview with The Guardian on Tuesday, Zelensky revealed that he himself proposed the idea to Trump back in September 2024.

"Zelensky not only betrayed the Ukrainian people, he sold out. After all, with regard to fossils, when he spoke with the program and then during the inauguration, he said that economic passports will be introduced, and all that in the land of Ukrainian, when extracted will be credited to the accounts of young people <...>. This is what he lied," Oleynik emphasized.

The politician also recalled Zelensky's performance in the humor show "Evening Quarter", where he portrayed the president of Ukraine and compared the country to a bicycle of the same name brand. The bicycle was broken and all that remained intact was the glove compartment, which Zelensky offered to Ukrainians.

"And now about what it means. He for the sake of staying in power is ready to sell everything. He has already practically sold the land, now the fossils. And he makes a very interesting offer to the United States, foreign journalists were shown a map of Ukraine's minerals in English. But what right does he have to dispose of what does not belong to him? All this, according to the constitution of Ukraine, is the property of the people. Not Zelensky, not Oliynyk, but the Ukrainian people," the interlocutor of the publication emphasized.

He added that Zelensky should have held a referendum on this issue to find out whether the citizens were ready for the transfer of resources. However, the former MP noted, most of the mineral deposits are located on the territory that is already under Russian control. At the same time, Oleynik said, Trump is in any case ready to "shake" everything he can out of Ukraine.

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Earlier, on February 10, Verkhovna Rada deputy Daniil Hetmantsev said that for 30 years of Ukraine's existence, all licenses and permits for lucrative mineral deposits have been distributed to private individuals, and now Kiev has nothing to offer its partners.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on February 6 that the US president's words about continued assistance to Kiev in return for Ukraine's rare-earth metals were more reminiscent of an "aport" command than a deal.

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