Russia will potentially target Ukraine's supplies of materials including gold, uranium and coal in a bid to "grind down" its economy, the UK's Ministry of Defence has said.
In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said Ukrainian government sources have "long highlighted Russian theft of Ukrainian resources from areas it has occupied".
It said materials such as iron ore, coal, titanium, uranium, manganese, gold and lithium deposits are "almost certainly covered by Russia but also potential targets as Russia seeks to grind down Ukraine's economy".
Moscow is looking to improve transport networks in occupied Ukraine in order to "extract more Ukrainian minerals", it said.
