Mount Karachun Near The City Of Sloviansk In Donetsk Oblast

SLOVIANSK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 9: In an aerial view, a chalk quarry on Mount Karachun is seen in front of the city on February 9, 2025 in Sloviansk, Ukraine. Due to the strategic importance of the mountain and the telecommunication tower located on it, fighting continued between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian armed groups over Karachun during the war in the east of Ukraine from April to July 2014. US President Donald Trump said that the US wants to receive rare-earth elements from Ukraine in exchange for further US support for Ukraine’s war against Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi commented that indeed, one of the points of the Ukraine’s Plan for Victory was the attraction of foreign investment into the Ukrainian economy. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Ukraine has the largest reserves of lithium, titanium and significant deposits of other minerals in Europe. (Photo by Viktor Fridshon/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)