Isn’t that the area with rare earth minerals?
Heavy industry, coal mining, steel.
Also coal and iron. That is why it is Ukraine’s industrial center. That is also why there is a Russian population there. They are not the historical population. They came with industrialization in the 19th century, which is also why they are concentrated in the cities while the countryside is still mainly Ukrainian.
“Isn’t that the area with rare earth minerals?”
That seemed to come out of nowhere. My understanding that the nothing spectacular regarding rare earth is known to exist in Ukraine. So maybe some places to mine, but not super-high concentrations of it.