Russia has some of the Ukrainian regions richest in resources in the midst of land exchanges talks
Trump establishes expectations to meet Putin
Fox News journalist Alexandria Hoff reports on the latest conflicts from Russia-Ukraine before the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on a special report ”.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump Recently, a renewal of calls for an exchange of territorial lands between Russia and Ukraine – a geopolitical maneuver which, if it was prosecuted, could grant Moscow control over some of the most strategic and wealthy regions of Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly rejected any proposal that would allow Russia to maintain control of its occupied territory in the tired country of war.
Zelenskyy will not give up the territory for peace before the Trump-Putin summit
Russia currently occupies about a fifth of the territory of Ukraine, mainly in the eastern and southeast regions, including large sides of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
These areas underwent partial or complete Russian control at various times during the Kremlin three and a half years war.
A large open -air mine extends through the landscape on February 12, 2025 in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Pierre Crom / Getty images)
Russia also has Crimea, the southern peninsula of Ukraine, which it annexed in 2014. The seizure of Crimea sparked a wave of international sanctions and led to the expulsion of Russia of the Eight group.
“The land that Russia currently occupies in southern and east of Ukraine is rich in various natural resources,” said David Salvo, director general of the Alliance for Stuering Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.
A map of the Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project of AEI which shows the territorial control of Russia on Ukraine in August 11, 2025. (Institute for the Study of War and the Critical threat Project of AEI)
“If Russia keeps this land, they would steal large quantities of critical minerals and other key economic assets.
This strategic importance is underlined by a warning from the Institute for the Study of War, a non -profit research organization non -partisan based in Washington, DC, which warns that Russia could exploit the mineral deposits of the rare land in occupied Ukraine and sell them to China.
Zelenskyy thanks NATO, European leaders for supporting its push to join the Trump-Putin summit
“Russia access to minerals in occupied Ukraine will probably increase the popular capacity of the Republic of China to access Ukraine minerals,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote in a press release at Fox News Digital, adding that Russia has already worked with China to extract these goods around the world since at least 2005.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend an official welcome ceremony in Beijing on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Sergei Bobylev, Spoutnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“The US-UKRAIN-Ukraine mineral agreement signed in April 2025 will only be effective if American and Ukrainian companies can access these resources,” said the Institute for the Institute for the War, noting the challenge since Russian forces are currently holding a territory containing significant deposits.
Salvo said that Russia occupation of Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea does not only limit exports to Ukraine, but also grants Moscow control over valuable offshore gas reserves.
A map of the Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threat Project of AEI which shows the territorial control of Russia and several raw materials critical in Ukraine in August 11, 2025. (Institute for the Study of War and the Critical threat Project of AEI)
Salvo also believes that Ukraine, historically known as the European Breadbasket, should lose billions of dollars in cereal export value.
“Ukraine’s economy would survive, but it would undoubtedly lose hundreds of billions,” said Salvo.
Before Russia’s large -scale invasion, agriculture was the third economic sector in Ukraine, contributing nearly 11% of GDP and employing around 2.5 million people, according to a European Parliament report in 2024.
Click here to obtain the Fox News app
According to the latest review of the kyiv School of Economics, the Ukrainian agricultural industry has undergone around $ 80 billion in damages and losses.
The group also provides that the country’s economy will decrease by 45%, while exports of disrupted cereals and the continuous destruction of its agricultural sector threaten millions worldwide.
