Russia captures key lithium deposit in eastern Ukraine

Russian troops have seized control of a key lithium field in eastern Ukraine despite fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces — in a move that some analysts speculate could potentially impact the United States’ mineral deal.

President Vladimir Putin’s forces captured the village of Shevchenko in the Donetsk region, which is close to the lithium deposit, within the last few days, Russian officials declared Thursday.

The deposit, which is located on Shevchenko’s eastern outskirts and covers roughly 100 acres, is believed to be one of Ukraine’s most valuable lithium deposits and sits at a depth that would allow commercial mining.

Some industry analysts warned of possible impacts to the US-Ukraine mineral deal given that the seizure deprives Kyiv of a critical asset it could have offered up as part of the long-awaited partnership.

“If Russian troops go further, capture more and more territory, they will control more and more mineral deposits,” Mykhailo Zhernov, director of the US company Critical Metals Corp, which previously held a license at the Shevchenko deposit, told the New York Times.

“It’s an issue for this deal.”

The deal, which was inked in April, created a joint fund to boost the reconstruction of the war-torn nation and gave the US preferential access to investment in Ukraine’s oil, gas and rare mineral industries.

Analysts suggested the ongoing Russian advancement and subsequent occupation of Ukrainian territory — including the likes of the Shevchenko deposit — would prove to be a challenge for the deal.  

Russian forces have been inching toward the Shevchenko field for months and, at one point, were advancing on it from three different routes, according to open-source mapping from Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian military blogging resource.

“The village of Shevchenko, which is located on the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region, is another settlement that has a lithium deposit,” Igor Klimakovsky, a Russian-appointed official in Donetsk, was quoted by Russian state media as saying.

“This was one of the reasons why the Ukrainian armed forces sent a huge number of their soldiers to hold it.”

Russian-backed officials have previously suggested the Shevchenko field will be developed when the situation permits.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine in the wake of the Shevchenko capture.

With Post wires