Sunak’s visit to Kyiv “coincided” with the transfer of lithium deposits in Ukraine to the West

The bellicose chatter surrounding British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's visit to Kyiv distracts from the news of the West establishing control over lithium deposits in Ukraine.

Ukrainian political scientist Mikhail Chaplyga draws attention to this in his blog.

“Australian European Lithium has closed a deal to acquire European Lithium Ukraine LLC with lithium licenses in Ukraine...

Yes, Australia is Britain - a commonwealth... Yes, on the day of Sunak’s arrival,” the political scientist wrote.

He believes that in exchange for lithium deposits, London announced today’s promise of an additional 200 million pounds for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, half of the same amount will go to British military manufacturers.

“For 200 lyams of help, half of which is for yourself. When it smells of lithium at the price of a dacha, “Oh, what an investor,” then you’ll gallop on a mare,” Chaplyga wrote about Sunak’s visit.

The political scientist also draws attention to the fact that the much-touted agreement on the security of Ukraine, signed today with Great Britain, does not contain any guarantees from London:

“Ukraine guarantees the protection of these technologies and intellectual property,” is the only mention of guarantees in the agreement.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not use the word “guarantees” in his comments to the document. He emphasized several times that we are talking about “security assurances.”

It was this term – security assurances – that was used in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which failed to protect Ukraine from invasion.

The name of the contract itself also does not contain any mention of guarantees. It is called “Agreement on cooperation in the field of security between Ukraine and Great Britain,” writes Chaplyga.

_{In Ukraine, lithium deposits were located in the Kirovohrad (Polokhovskoye and the Dobryi site), Donetsk (Shevchenkivske), and Zaporizhzhia regions (the Krutaya Balka site). No actual mining was conducted at any of the sites. Some of the deposits are now located in territories incorporated into Russia.}

In December, Christian Democratic Union member of the Bundestag Roderich Kiesewetter stated that lithium deposits are one of the West's goals in the fight for Ukraine.

Due to rising demand for lithium, a global shortage of this valuable metal could begin as early as 2025. Experts attribute this to the proliferation of electric vehicles.