And it's becoming increasingly obvious what Putin wants he's after Ukraines rich resources to add to Russias own treasure chest of oil and gas.
"Ukraine has extremely rich and
complementary mineral resources in high concentrations and close proximity to each other. Rich iron ore reserves located in the vicinity of
Kryvyy Rih,
Kremenchuk, Bilozerka,
Mariupol, and
Kerch form the basis of Ukraine’s large iron-and-steel
industry. One of the richest areas of manganese-bearing ores in the world is located near
Nikopol. Bituminous and anthracite
coal used for coke are mined in the
Donets Basin. Energy for thermal power stations is obtained using the large reserves of
brown coal found in the
Dnieper River basin (north of Kryvyy Rih) and the
bituminous coal deposits of the Lviv-Volyn basin. The coal mines of Ukraine are among the deepest in
Europe. Many of them are considered dangerous because their depth contributes to increased levels of methane; methane-related explosions have killed numerous Ukrainian miners.
Ukraine also has important deposits of titanium ore, bauxite, nepheline (a source of soda), alunite (a source of potash), and mercury (cinnabar, or mercuric sulfide) ores. A large deposit of ozokerite (a natural paraffin wax) occurs near the city of Boryslav. Subcarpathia possesses potassium salt deposits, and both Subcarpathia and the Donets
Basin have large deposits of
rock salt. Some phosphorites as well as natural sulfur are found in Ukraine."
