Russia, like U.S. President Donald Trump, covets Ukraine's natural resources - and on the ground its forces are closing in on a giant lithium deposit. Trump said this month he wants Kyiv to hand over large quantities of its critical minerals in return for U.

The feud between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky has been fueled by the Ukrainian president’s refusal to sign a deal handing hundreds of billions of dollars in minerals to the U.S.