Ukraine´s natural wealth

Ukraine holds approximately 5% of the world's mineral reserves. Ukraine has approximately 20,000 mineral deposits covering 117 mineral types. 8,761 deposits are of commercial value and 3,055 deposits were in production before the Russian invasion.

The EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union and Ukraine on a Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials already on 13 July 2021. The Partnership was supposed to include activities along the entire value chain of both primary and secondary raw materials and batteries. President Trump now indicated that he would be ready to provide support to Ukraine in exchange for its mineral resources, in particular rare earth minerals (the 90% of which is globally currently processed by China). However, Ukraine has more than just rare earths. It holds the largest titanium reserves in Europe (7% of the world's reserves) and is one of the few countries that mine titanium ores. Ukraine is the world's 5th largest gallium producer and owns 20% of global graphite reserves. With estimated 500,000 tons of lithium, Ukraine has one of the largest reserves in Europe. Ukraine also has significant reserves of copper, lead, zinc, silver, nickel, cobalt, bromine, magnesium and manganese. Ukraine also ranks second in Europe in terms of gas reserves after Norway.

There are two issues that makes the exploitation of this natural wealth questionable. Much of these reserves are yet unexplored and a significant part of the multi-trillion-euro natural resource wealth is under Russian control.

While geopolitics was at the origin of the conflict, geoeconomics may be at the core of its resolution and will be absolutely crucial for Ukraine´s post-war reconstruction.