Russian forces intend to conduct geological exploration for rare mineral resources in the occupied territories of Ukraine—specifically in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.
The occupied territories of Ukraine have significant deposits of titanium, lithium, tungsten, and molybdenum. In particular, the Shevchenkivske lithium deposit in Donetsk has reserves of 13.8 million tons of ore (with a lithium oxide content of about 1.2%).
The Zaporizhzhia region holds approximately 20% of the world’s titanium reserves.
Russia plans to explore around 70 sites, with priority given to lithium, graphite, manganese, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, and uranium.
The Russian forces expect that by 2030, the economic benefit from implementing these geological projects could reach over $11.2 billion in tax revenues. Additionally, Moscow claims it intends to reduce its dependence on imported rare earth metals from 75% to 45% by 2030, increasing its own extraction to 50,000 tons per year.
The actual economic control by Russia over Ukraine’s occupied territories once again demonstrates that Moscow has no intention of negotiating a real end to the war or making compromises.
