July 3, 2025: Russian forces claim to have seized a site key to Ukraine’s future development of a lithium-rich region for the EV and BESS manufacturing sector.

Ukraine has said previously that a significant lithium deposit near the village of Shevchenko, in the Donetsk region, would likely form part of a minerals development agreement with the US.

However, Russia’s defence ministry said it now controls Shevchenko, according an announcement reported by the TASS news agency on June 26.

“The settlement of Shevchenko is located at the border with the Dnepropetrovsk region. This is yet another community where there is a lithium deposit and was precisely one of the reasons why Ukrainian armed formations sent a large number of their soldiers to hold it, most of whom perished as a result,” the ministry claimed.

Ukraine’s government has yet to confirm or deny Russia’s claim. However, in a Telegram post on June 18, Ukrainian president’s office chief Andriy Yermak said an announcement on a tender for developing the nearby Dobra lithium deposit was imminent.

Batteries International reported in April that the US and Ukraine had yet to finalize a proposed bilateral mineral rights deal, linked to a potential peace plan for war-torn Ukraine with Russia.

However, the European Union is also ramping up its efforts to clinch a deal, whereby Ukraine could be a major partner in fuelling the EU’s own battery raw material needs.

In 2021, the EU signed a strategic partnership with Ukraine aimed at better integrating critical raw materials and battery value.