Pushkov called the US-Ukraine deal a step towards Kiev's semi-colonial status.

The agreement between the United States and Ukraine on rare earth resources has become another step towards colonization of the country, the head of the Federation Council Commission on information policy Alexei Pushkov said on May 1.

"The US agreement with Ukraine on rare earth resources has become another major step towards the colonization of Ukraine," Pushkov wrote on his Telegram channel.

Pushkov stressed that Kiev had "long ago and voluntarily" embarked on the path of becoming a dependent territory. He recalled the large-scale arms supplies, Western financial assistance, which accounts for about 40% of the Ukrainian budget, and dependence on military support from NATO countries.

He added that US President Donald Trump had "put a bold end to this process," and Ukraine had exchanged the sovereignty it possessed at the beginning of 2014 for "semi-colonial dependence on the West."

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Delegation from Kiev goes to Washington

The day before, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Kiev had signed an agreement on Ukraine's natural resources. In addition, the countries have concluded a deal on the creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, he added.

On April 17, Vice President of Ukraine, Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko announced that Kiev and Washington had signed a memorandum on an agreement on minerals. The next day, Deputy Zheleznyak published the text of the memorandum on his Telegram channel, noting that there was no mention of security guarantees in the document.