Conflict in Ukraine's Donbas Region: The Geology Behind the Headlines

Glad to have you studying with me! I have more content in the works and I hope you'll enjoy it. For those that are interested, the best textbook out there is this one: amzn.to/47VNed8. However, it's a little old now (two of the authors have passed away) and if you prefer a newer textbook, I would recommend this one: amzn.to/45UFDcR
For other introductory geology lectures: • Introduction to Geology
On February 24th 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine attempting to seize the capital city, Kyiv, and the eastern half of the country. After sustaining heavy loses in those initial months, Russian leadership decided on a new objective: annexing the Donbas region. Paul Day, Professor of Geology, briefly examines the geologic context for the Donbas and explores to what extent the geology of the Donbas region is a motivator for the on-going conflict.
For a more detailed discussion on the geology of cratons, back-arc basins, volcanic arcs, and subduction zones similar to the Dnieper-Donetsk basin, please study with Professor Day as he gives his lecture on the Origin of Mountains: • Geology 16 (Mountains)
Paper referenced in the video: www.ipme.ru/ip...

[@drmikevasovski]

Reports like this is why I spend so much time on KZbin. Thank you.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

And appreciation like this is why I find time to make an occasional video. Thank you!

[@lilblackduc7312]

@@EarthandSpaceSciencesX Two years ago, I understood Neon Gas was a byproduct of the steel making in this area. It was being sold to the computer hardware industry, being used in the ASML silicon wafer manufacturing machines. Since the war, neon gas had to be sourced elsewhere at a greater cost. Rumor, or not?

[@WalterVetterli]

Same here!!

[@utubewatcher806]

True, someone tried to sell me on the idea that Ukraine was an impoverished region of the USSR, but it was and always has been resource-rich and an agricultural gem.

[@fibber2u]

Me too. Sadly you do have to wade through a quagmire of dross to get to this sort of stuff.

[@AlexCataldo-t4i]

Lindsey Graham said the quite part out loud about the natural resources in eastern Ukraine and how much money is involved.

[@cauwenberghsroeland8607]

On both sides. But locally, there are identitary motivations. The approach of Ianoukovitch was less interesting for the West.... So there are material motivations on both sides... of meddling foreign powers...

[@ThomasGellos-e6v]

He let that one slip out

[@HiwasseeRiver]

One day the Govt tells us coal is bad, the next they get all lathered up and want a war to obtain coal. The Clown Show can't keeps it's lies straight.

[@jamesgornall5731]

He really did say the quiet part out loud, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Nice to hear someone without a political filter, for a change, however.

[@ETALAL]

A lot of western investors lost their shirts in this project, They are holding huge volumes of worthless shares that can only regain there value if .........

[@pablokagioglu2546]

Paul, I have watched all your videos and I must say, you are an outstanding educator 👏 Your enthusiasm, clarity and delivery make for a very engaging and informative experience I wish my college professors have had half the game you do Can’t wait for new content. 😀

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you very much for the encouraging comment!

[@Robert.Chauval]

Just found your channel today. Im impressed with your technical content (im not a geotech but have a lay interest) and your professional manner with not even a hint dramatics... you got a new sub... Your geo take on the conflict adds a very important extra dimension to the discussion. And this conflict is anything but 1 dimensional. I personally think Donbass geo resources werent the primary driver for Russia however it would def be in their interest to restrict a neighbouring LNG competitor to the EU..... of course the US bombing of the Nordstream supply to Germany/EU after Russia rolled into Ukraine would make it a hell of a lot easier to be the LNG pipeline of choice to EU (and Blackrock et al etc).... taking out the competition for Ukraine LNG makes sense now I am not of the opinion that Russia wants to take all of Ukraine and then roll all over the EU. Thats nothing but fear-mongering dramatics and plays into the hands of certain interest groups.... and well trained anti-commie haters enmass... I'd be more interested in the rare earth metals and who wants that very sensitive resource more considering the China supply chain and their response to illegal sanctions.. personally i dont blame them for responding in kind.... What about the mineralogy of the volcanic shield band.. surely there's gold and copper etc etc that's normally associated with volcanic hydrology? I suspect that's got to be a significant player in the equation? I will be binging on your content now thanks. Really like your work. Any interest in discussing New Zealand geology????

[@ehoworka]

There is no such thing as "LNG pipeline" - contradiction of terms...

[@hausi7401]

Ural

[@rilmehakonen9688]

@@ehoworka Not quite clever enough, ehoworka, you forgot to explain why. Pipelines carry gas as a gas. L = Liquid. LNG is liquid because it is either very cold or at great pressure.

[@WalterVetterli]

Agree totally!!!!

[@100kwatt_Neville_Goddard]

The resources in that area are secondary to the strategic long term military and commercial use of the warm water ports..

[@generalputnam2990]

Granted. But geology/topography &.resources have always determined population levels and human economic adaptations.

[@davidgleinbach7316]

RUZZIA ALREADY HAD A 50 YEAR LEASE ON SEVASTOPOL PLUS NEW PORTS IN SYRIA. SORRY....

[@marinblaze]

​@@davidgleinbach7316Amerikkka views some countries as enemies. Coincidentaly those countries do not have US military bases

[@glennjames7107]

To Russia they are secondary, to the western leaders, the minerals are the only reason they are in this. They aren't worried about whether they can put nukes on Russia's border. They already can, they could put them in Sweden. It's all about the oil and other minerals, ie it's all about the money. It always is, and always has been.

[@NUMMEHARBEN]

Russia had free passage from the Azow sea to the Black sea before the war.

[@rayspencer5025]

It is not always what you gain from conquest, but what you deprive your competition of.

[@victoreous626]

What an interesting comment. Thanks for posting it.

[@poneis88]

True, Putin's ultimate goal now is to weaken the Ukrainian state by depriving it of economic assets and then going for conquest in the future. If he manages to get a peace deal that allows him to keep the occupied territories, this will put Ukraine in a very fragile situation, as no financial investments will be made in an area that can turn into a warzone in any minute, plus the lost resources. Ukraine needs to keep all of its territory to remain as an independent state.

[@dan-bz7dz]

True. Russia already has abundant natural resources. But I think the more pressing issue is the fact how many Russians ended up in Ukraine due to how the Soviet Union drew the borders. And the unwillingness of Ukraine to solve the bloody civil war that had been raging there for 8 years before Russia intervened.

[@TheKobiDror]

@@dan-bz7dz The trolls are working here... Who stoked the conflict in the first place? Back to topic. It is exactly that. Ukraine already has the infrastructure to transport natural gas. They "only" need to flip a switch to replace the Russian gas with Ukrainian one and would become one of the major players in Europe's natural gas market. That's why Shell was exploring in the East and it's one contributor for this conflict.

[@TKUA11]

Agree. People still refuse to call this a genocide, when Putin has clearly said Ukraine doesn’t exist. He says that Ukrainians are just Russians that have lost their way: Putin would rather burn down all of Ukraine and kill everyone, than allow his own citizens to watch a successful post Soviet country

[@nesa6582]

I dont think those resources play major role for Russia, i mean Russia has immense resources. Primarly it is strategic question.

[@NexPutax]

More one of unbridled greed!

[@brankoprosic5852]

@@NexPutax I don't think so. The thing is to deny Ukraine its industrial output directly and reducing Ukraine's overall GDP, of which huge chunk comes from the Donbas itself...not less than 25%. If Russia stops at those 4 provinces, it will still unable Ukraine to develop its industry in a close vicinity, which will further diminish its independence. Plus, everything that those regions produce will contribute to Russian GDP.

[@jimgraham6722]

Ruzz wanted to ensure it remained a monopoly supplier of energy and minerals to Germany. That enabled it to have a strategic hold over the EU and NATO. With Ukraine threatening to horn on its European resource market ruzz was determined that shouldn't happen.

[@sparkyfromel]

certainly , strategic security has always been Russia first motivation , but increasing economic resources are part of security too all countries know that , including the USA

[@harriemeeuwis978]

​@@jimgraham6722Interesting you talk about 'ruzz'. 'Ruzz' (phonetically) was the name the Viking/'Swedish' founders of Kiev called themselves and it's considered to be the start of the Russian nation.

[@ockertwessels649]

I am not so certain that Russia's motive was gas and oil, because the 2022 peace negotiations approached a settlement that made no provision for the transfer of mineral assets of any kind. In my opinion Professor John Mearsheimer's work dating back to the 1990's and after best explain the reasons for the Ukranian conflict. A little more insight and a lot less greed, would have served the West, its partners, and the World, so much better than strategies followed. I don't like to talk like that, but it is what the facts leads me to believe.

[@sonytab2018]

what about rare minerals? (e.g. titanium, lithium etc)

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

There's quite a bit of those too. Glossed over that because I didn't want the video to be too long but those could also be relevant.

[@sonytab2018]

@@EarthandSpaceSciencesX do you think this could be one of the drivers (not the main one) for what is happening over there? kzbin.info/www/bejne/iILTf2CCm6qliqs

[@tonysherwood9619]

Probably when Elon sold large share in tesla!

[@SurfTopsail]

and what about the uranium deposits?

[@kwokpuitsang9472]

@@SurfTopsail If Putin successfully control the city name Кривий Ріг, Russia uranium reserve will be increased by 50%.

[@Markdmarque]

It's why the West is so interested in Ukraine. Russia are there because of the Ethnic Russian people needed protection from Ukrainian shelling for 8years

[@robertharneis9506]

Very interesting geologically but. Naive geopolitically. This is a civil war in which Russia intervened not just a fight between Russia and Ukrainian Defense Forces. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fighting on the Russian side. For Russia this is hardly about geology at all except to ensure the region is viable after the war. For the US and then EU it is 100% about geology and agriculture, and 0% about the welfare of the Ukrainian people.

[@garrycompton7214]

Agree 100% - look at the Oakland Institute's research - Theft and War - this will show who bought all the farmland right after the 2014 coup. It's Wall Street and the Globalist. And they are going to lose their billions. lol

[@ms.erania9848]

I agree 👍

[@comment6864]

Very well said!

[@GarrisonFall]

For the US, EU and other civilised nations, they are drawn into the war to protect Ukraine's sovereignty. Putin, on the other hand, is concerned with wealth and power. The natural and industrial resources are two reasons. The agricultural production is another. The area is called Europe's breadbasket. Since the beginning of the war, the Russians were exporting stolen Ukrainian grain. The Black Sea ports of Crimea provide Putin with some of Russia's only warm water ports. The southern oblasts provide Putin with a land-bridge to Moldova and beyond and would allow Putin to cut off Ukraine's access to the sea. The civil conflict in the Donvas was engineered by Russia, which provided military equipment and manpower to the small minority of so called 'separatists'. Igor Girkin, a Russian officer, boasted that he started the war in Ukraine by leading his (disguised) troops to take over governmental headquarters in the area. This war was started by Russia, no one else. He wanted to topple the Ukraine government and gain control of the whole country. Any concern he expressed for 'ethnic Russians' in Ukraine is a fiction invented to disguise the true reasons for his invasion.

[@Brommear]

So Russia wants a viable Ukraine after the war - but bombing every city to smithereens? En serio amigo?

[@davidstevenson9517]

Great presentation! Stripped of ideology, War is competition for resources; that's the bottom line. Thank you to our host geologist for a concise explanation for laymen.

[@FranceBernardof0609]

Thank you for these in-depth explanations of the geological factors of the Ukrainian conflict with Russia. Also we can add, the exceptional riches of the Ukrainian topsoil, which contributes vastly to the country's wealth with the production of wheat and maize and other type of cultures. The name of this particular topsoil is, "Tchernozium". It is a large band of earth stretching from the northwest of the country and going well into Russia to the southeast, and measuring around 1500 km in length, with a width of around 200 km to 400 km.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

It's interesting to me that you bring this up because when the conflict broke out I immediately thought of that magnificent soil...second most productive soil in the world behind America's Blackland Prairie. Historically, that soil is not only fantastic for agriculture, but during times of conflict, it serves as a natural hazard for invading forces during the springtime. It's not hard to find photos of German tanks stuck in the mud during WWII and predictably tanks and trucks were stuck in the mud during the opening weeks of this conflict for the exact same reason.

[@glebarhangelsky4351]

Yes, we would like to take those back from Black Rock.

[@terike9738]

Yet Russia is the world's number one producer of wheat and grain.

[@begun65vdal5]

Have to correct you, its named чорноземи- chornozem. Check out on Wikipedia.

[@georgesbv1]

​@@terike9738 30 times larger country?

[@taimalik1110]

Hello Professor Day, I love your videos so much! Thank you for covering the geology and science of Ukraine, which is a totally different way to understand the region than geo-politics! Professor, would you also please be able to cover the recent earthquake in Turkiye and Syria that took place Feb 2023, from the science and plate tectonics perspective, as we've learned from your video lectures? Thank you Professor Day, and stay safe!

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

I am deeply interested in that geological disaster and want to cover it when more scientific answers are known. It's one of the most heart-breaking tragedies of my lifetime.

[@13gan]

The huge population of Russian ethnic in the region can be explained by the geological resources in the area. However the conflict itself have its root in the sociopolitical situation in Ukraine. In fact, before 2014 Russia was among the largest trading partner of Ukraine along with the EU, both having roughly 30% each. This mean that its not in the interest of Ukraine to alienate one of their trading partner nor does it benefit Russia when they not only have cultural and historical ties to Ukraine (being the birth place of Russia in the Kievan Rus and part of the Eastern Slavic race) but also strong economic ties. Sociopolitical aspect though, then its partly due to Soviet policy in the area and with the migration of ethnic Russian into Ukraine, during Soviet time racial/ethnic tension may have started then and with the dissolution of USSR, this start to grow due to nationalism. I'm not saying nationalism itself is bad but for a new country, the need to create a national narrative on the formation of their country take center stage. Unfortunately, since the some of the national figures that can be said as freedom fighter are Nazi (Bandera etc), the ideology of those national heroes began to spread but instead of having the Jews as the national enemy like in Germany, the target is the Russian ethnic which make sense since like pre-war Germany, the Russian not only dominate Ukraine economically but also culturally as part of the legacy of USSR. This used to be a minority and if you asked any Ukrainian before 2010, they have no problem in condemning both Nazism and Communism just like any other post-Soviet country. The difference being that they also acknowledge that some of their national heroes come from both ideology. Post-Maidan the crack become apparent with racial/ethnic motivated attack being commited in Odessa and the Donbass against the Russian and its all because an ethnic Russian president postponed the signing of EU-Ukraine friendship treaty, even though most of the Donbass (Russian majority area) didn't vote for that president. Its like if Texas didn't vote for Trump but the Democrats still blame them for Trump being President. That is why untangling the conflict is hard. You have Ukrainian hardliner that is anti-Russia (and to some extend suspicious of Russian Ukrainian loyalty), Russian Ukrainian that's being targeted just because they are Russian and/or protested against the Maidan coup and the Neo-Nazi who place themselves as heroes of Ukraine against Russia and Russian belligerence. Being an important country in Russia's foreign and defense strategy (having a naval base in Crimea and lots of investment within Ukraine economy) Russia is basically forced to act to defend their interest. Its basically similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis for Russia. Well, that's my opinion on what happen in Ukraine. No doubt its more complicated than that. I mean, before 2014, does anyone in the world know much about Ukraine, aside than Yulia Tymoshenko?

[@hawkbartril3016]

No Americans cultivating that hate and encouraging nazi's. You must be American then ? Tell me why there were so many US politicians in Ukraine at the time of the Maidan coup like McCain, Nuland, Sullivan etc oh and they had nothing to do with the coup either. So then they could tell the world how sovereign the country was, and the same still applies. Which is not hard to see with Ukraine unable to even negotiate for peace unless America says they can !!!

[@Spark-Hole]

I like your analysis, but Cuban crisis in Russia, Putin is wrong so was Kennedy. This will be the last human war because next generation people around the world know each orther by using social medias.

[@NexPutax]

You make a valiant effort to untangle often conflicting narratives related to UA/RU relations. Impossible to do so, except we must be guided by law. Nations are to be judged & understood by that standard, above all else. Explains ruZZia's international pariah status today. Peace to you and all law-abiding members of the international community. Ruzzia ceded leadership, among most Slavic speaking states, to Ukraine🇺🇦💯

[@13gan]

@@NexPutax Well for starters, there is no law that supports the Maidan Coup. As for Russia's "pariah" status, that is only in the West. In the rest of the world like in BRICs countries, they are pretty much welcomed. I'm however interested in how you determine "leadership among most slavic speaking states" as at least within the Eastern Slavs, Russia and Belarus are pretty much of the same mind while the rest of "slavic countries" are within the EU (i.e have little power to determine their own foreign policy).

[@comment6864]

The fact is the ultra-nationalists in the far western parts have little in common in their background with the rest of what arbitrarily landed within the boarders of the country called Ukraine. But those nationalists wanted their own country and got greedy. They laid claim to what wasn't theirs. The people in most of what's Ukraine in many cases had lived on that land for generations AS RUSSIANS. So it's ludicrous and very frivolous when some tell them - well if you want to speak Russian go back to Russia. It's like if Ontario told the french speakers in Quebec - go back to France or speak English. Would be pretty stupid if the long-term goal is to keep Quebec as a stable part of Canada, wouldn't it. Well the Ukr. nationalists are very blinded by their hatred. They can't think straight enough to even know how to pursue their very own long-term interests. It all could have been so different. Russia gave them so many chances. They blew them all. Now best thing for all would be for Ukraine to cease to exist as a political entity. Will it happen or not is now up to Russia. And that is the only real intrigue here, not 'the reasons'

[@andreydonetskiy9416]

Thank you Paul. I`m from Donetsk. The reason of this conflict is realy complicated. There is a very interesting story here, a few years before 2014, Western corporations carried out geo-exploration in Eastern Ukraine. One of the founders of Burisma Holdings was Joe Biden's son, Hunter. In the spring of 2014, military collision began in the region and the exploration was stopped and Western corporations left the region. It looks like Russia has solved two issues: it prevented the development of gas production in Ukraine and diverted the attention of the Ukrainian army from Crimea which was handed to Russia without any resistance. In 2022, there was a new wave of war in Ukraine, the most fierce fighting again in Donbass. And again, Biden defends his interests, already as the leader of the Western coalition. NATO, expanding for many years to the East, would sooner or later meet resistance, and this happened in my city, Donetsk.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you for taking the time to share your story and perspective. It is much appreciated and I hope your family has avoided much of the tragedy that has already unfolded in this conflict.

[@ashtestes]

@@EarthandSpaceSciencesX you really arnt going to push back on these comments implying russia had to invade ukraine?

[@jorgoasparuhov4131]

@@ashtestes Truth at First, no Western Propaganda and Lie

[@jorgoasparuhov4131]

@@naakatube SS are Coming they are always welcome in the Russian land.

[@kathleenmann7311]

Thank you for sharing your perspective . I’m afraid American politics is FUBAR 🫤.

[@generalputnam2990]

Have been waiting for this explanation. Thank you.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

You are welcome!

[@Stan-b3v]

I have been as well.

[@edwardchipp7200]

I suspect it is a major deposit of natural hydrogen that was discovered. It has all the hallmarks of hydrogen potential (a failed rift overlying cratonic basement similar to South Africa, Kansas-Nebrasca, Mali, northern Pyrenees and Lorraine Basin in France, coal etc). Russia has been keen on hydrogen longer than other nations and supported abiotic oil/gas origen more than in west. They are more pragmatic than others because they place more emphasis on geology and science. In the west we have political scientists making decisions which leads to bad decisions. Your explanation for why all the fighting makes more sense. Thank you.

[@davidgleinbach7316]

PEOPLE THROUGH OUT HISTORY THOUGHT SCIENCE WAS MAGIC. THAT MADE NO SENSE....*_°... 🔱⭐

[@dan-bz7dz]

Yeah, it. had nothing to do with the CIA overthrowing the democratically elected government there and then telling Ukraine they could join NATO. And it also had nothing to do with Ukraine constantly violating the peace agreement they had signed with the Donbass militias that they refused to implement. Not at all.

[@sprocket5526]

Like riding putin eh?

[@user-yq2wk6yg8s]

I don't know whether I'm to blame for not paying attention at school or whether the content was so much drier in the 1960s. This stuff is really interesting and the teacher is so enthusiastic. Mind you, what would happen if your audience would have rather been out fishing?

[@robertmyers6488]

They are extremely interested in the Donbas because the population of the region is Russian and the lovely Ukrainians were bombing the crap out of them for 10 years and were amassing massive troops to destroy it just before Russia invaded. America and NATO are the parties who want the Donbas because of what you point out. Just ask Lindsey Graham.

[@lotharschiese8559]

Great easy to follow presentation, very informative.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Glad you liked it!

[@mishka110]

This discussion is manipulative as Blackrock and other US corporations have been beneficiaries of Ukraine removing its nationalisation of certain mineral fields and selling land to Ukrainian Oligarchs or these US corporations. In 2015 Igor Kolomoisky, a billionaire businessman, told the Financial Times that Ukraine should not receive any new funds from the International Monetary Fund until all “illegally” privatised property had been restored to state ownership. The reason the Russians are so interested in Bakhmut is not geological but cultural. You should know that? Look at any census information going back 50 years and you will see that the Donbass region is 80% or more Russians who migrated here during the soviet union or were here for centuries going back to the origins of Kievan Rus, the beginnings of russian culture. All my Ukrainian and Russian friends confirm this.

[@bobschmitz3882]

The lithium deposits: is this the result of the evaporating tethys/ parathethys seas? How far north and west was this located?

[@dougen9237]

This war is not basically about natural resources. Russia has more than enough. The war is mainly a civil war about cultural and political issues. Ever since the 2014 coup against the Ukrainian president, ethnically Russian Ukrainians in the east have been attacked by western Ukrainians (some called Banderites). The main culprits, however, are the US neocons, who want to interfere in the civil war and build Ukraine into a huge US-sponsored Nato base. The neocons want to use the Ukrainians as cannon fodder in order to achieve regime change in Russia. Meanwhile, many western multinational corporations and investors such as BlackRock want to exploit Ukrainian mineral resources and rich farmland.

[@garrycompton7214]

Good geologic synopsis but Ukraine has only been a country for 20 years - and always controlled by Oligarchs. I was a Geology major at Wisconsin from 1969 to 1971 and have worked and still live in Ukraine/Russia - now over 12 years- { construction management and now retired} I looked at the Geology back in 08 when I worked out of Kiev and Crimea. I thought the same as you, but Ukraine{ Kiev} never took advantage of much of it.Kiev was a mafia government - very corrupt. There always were coal mines and such in the Basin - many decades worth of work for the local Ukies/Russians. I certainly enjoyed listening to your research and those that want the Natural Resources is Wall Street and the Globalist - same game as Iraq's oil, Syria's, Libya's, etc. Russia , they say is worth 80 Trillion in resources, but they will certainly open up the Donbas Basin and drill far out from Crimea. They are mostly interested in keeping 1/2 of Ukraine , the Russian part/ heritage and keep Nato out. From where I stand - Crimea- Russia will take NovoRossiya, including east of the Dnepr, Odecca, etc. and help start a New Neutral Ukraine because Russians/Putin , don't want people that don't want to be Russians. It'll take 5 to 10 years maybe but things will turn out better if Russia and Belarus keep the Russian parts normal and New Ukraine - Ukrainian, with normal ties to Russia and Europe { once Europa gets normal - that is. Brics will be using the ports in Odecca to do business and both Ukraine and Russia will be OK as long as the outside influence is eliminated. I feel positive about this. Спасибо

[@golddigger8759]

It's always amusing how Z-trolls expose themselves, isn't it 🎉😂 No one else is stupid enough to go all-in making post ergo propter hoc "political history"....on the Geology channel 🤣 Why didn't your forecast materialise?

[@jamesgornall5731]

​@@golddigger8759was that the 3 day operation, as Mark Milley had forecast?

[@frankdesantis8078]

Gary, fascinating input from someone knowledgeable about the topic. I agree with you, particularly about keeping outsiders (our CIA and plundering investors) out.

[@tomaskinoshta7589]

wrong, Ukraine is now a colony of the American Empire. Ukraine is a parasitic nation and survives by sponging off another country, Before Ukraine sponged off Russia, now Ukraine sponges off the USA.

[@tomeks666]

What you demonstrate is pure rus-speak. Use chatgpt or something to remove rus-speak, because it sounds funny when somebody is trying to pretend a westerner while using Russian propaganda buzzwords.

[@glidermike1]

Because of the large gas potential of the Donbas this was a direct threat to Russian gas supplies to Europe, competition lowers prices. In addition, a number of gas pipelines to Europe pass through Ukraine so exploiting the fields would be easy. This is why the original invasion plan was to also take Crimea and all coastline to Odessa to Isolate Ukraine from the Black Sea large gas fields within their sovereign territory.

[@nothanks3236]

Interesting stuff, thanks!

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you very much for your appreciation!

[@mathmonde]

Having followed Putler since he took office, I am quite sure natural resources are not his primary concern. Imperialism is his main concern. Otherwise he would develop the natural resources Russia already has. Putler believes that if can increase Russia’s footprint, he will enter history books beside Stalin and the many Russian leaders who had the same aggressive purposes. The history of Europe has many pages about countries and people resisting Russia’s imperialism. The latest examples are of course Ukraine who wants to break free from their Kremlin puppet masters, or before that all the countries of Eastern Europe who flocked NATO to protect their people from yet another Russian invasion, occupation, imperialism and colonialism.

[@eamonnculliton100]

Now do one on tye United States occupation in Syria. On how much oil is there and how much thay are stealing

[@hakanlundberg]

Zero. Not even the Kurds who are the ones who actually occupies northern Syria get to take and sell the oil. It may only be used for humanitarian programs locally and without making gains. Read the agreements made and figure out why it isn’t possible to steal/transport/export the oil. ISIS did however steal oil when they were gaining ground in the area, but it was similarly hard for them to sell it. The US obviously doesn’t have the manpower or resources in place either to occupy the region or steal the oil. It’s a relatively few military specialists who know how to train Kurdish troops and aid with intelligence gathering when the Kurds fight ISIS, hence aiding Russia and the Syrian government too indirectly. When it comes to fuels these Americans know how to fill up an humwee with diesel.

[@Stonefeather53]

The people that settled in the Donbas Region are mostly ethnic Russians as you pointed out at the end of your video. They never wanted to be in a country that became hostile to their ethnicity so they formed a break-away country. As you said geology was the reason the Russians settled in this region as miners and industrialists.

[@Lepermessiah54]

Dude, this explains a lot. Thanks!

[@CandideSchmyles]

The natural resources of this region are far more of interest to the US led corporate oligarchy (USCO) than they are to the vast resources rich country of Russia. Ukraine itself is however just the sacrificial lamb in the USCO ambition to fracture Russia itself and in doing perpetrate the corporate theft of the entirety of Russian natural wealth. As for your assertions that the Russians of the Donbass are largely emigrees from the Soviet era this is absolutely untrue. Donbass is a part of Novo Russia and has been culturally and linguistically Russian for 100s of years. It is clear from what you say that you rely on western revisionist sources.

[@ruthbech8850]

The access to a southern harbor is more important to Russia than the geology. The geology is more of a factor in 8-9 years of civil war supported by the US and EU fought against the oblasts in the east. Oil and gas, iron, lithium and rare earth minerals are very interesting to the western nations.

[@joe_ninety_one5076]

The EU and US have supported no 'civil war'. They have supported Ukraine’s sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter. It is the Kremlin who instigated this 'civil war' (in which most of the people of Donbas had no interest) by sending in mercenaries and regular forces in 2014. The 'Western nations' were quite happy to purchase the products you mention from whoever is selling them, as they normally do. They have no intention of annexing parts of Ukraine as Russia has, after attempting to take the whole country. It is pretty obvious who wants these resources for free, just as Prigozhin said. You have reversed the true situation.

[@joe_ninety_one5076]

The EU and US have supported no 'civil war'. They have supported Ukraine’s sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter. It is the Kremlin who instigated this 'civil war' (in which most of the people of Donbas had no interest) by sending in mercenaries and regular forces in 2014. The 'Western nations' were quite happy to purchase the products you mention from whoever is selling them, as they normally do. They have no intention of annexing parts of Ukraine as Russia has, after attempting to take the whole country. It is pretty obvious who wants these resources for free, just as Prigozhin said. You have reversed the true situation.

[@joe_ninety_one5076]

@ruthbech The EU and US have supported no 'civil war'. They have supported Ukraine’s sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter. It is the Kremlin who instigated this 'civil war' (in which most of the people of Donbas had no interest) by sending in mercenaries and regular forces in 2014. The 'Western nations' were quite happy to purchase the products you mention from whoever is selling them, as they normally do. They have no intention of annexing parts of Ukraine as Russia has, after attempting to take the whole country. It is pretty obvious who wants these resources for free, just as Prigozhin said. You have reversed the true situation.

[@CosmicValkyrie]

​Nonsense. Watch some proper reportage of that time. It was a civil war and US and EU are the suppliers and instigators of it. Why is Lindsey Graham shamelessly talking about the resources there? Please use your brain, the head is not just for storage. ​@@joe_ninety_one5076

[@loumcast]

All of eastern and southeastern Ukraine are historical Russian territories given to Ukraine to administer by the communists during the years of the Soviet Union, all the cities from Odessa to Kharkiv and in between are Russian founded cities, that's the reason the people in those areas speak Russian and not Ukrainian. During the years of the Soviet Union people moved around to work in different industries, but they did not come to that area in mass like you're leading to believe. Today, there are over 10 million Ukrainians living/working in Russia, and that happened mostly during the years of the Soviet Union. The main reason why this war is going on its due to security, Russia does not want to be encircle by NATO nor do they want western offensive weapons near its border.

[@anthonysteele3466]

I find it interesting that coal gas and oil is found in an area that is so very old. It means that there was a huge amount of plant life in the history of early earth

[@spudpud-T67]

Plants without the organisms to decompose it.

[@NickMirro]

Excellent comment! Our species has only been here for 0.00009 percent of the time life has been evolving. Who can scarcely imagine the colossal legacy that we're burning through in an instant?

[@targe4070]

For the west it is resource, blackrock farmland anyone? For Russia, it security reason

[@christiank1251]

Keywords being: 1) Mackinder, 2) Lebensraum, 3) Burisma. Geology is a nice accompanying melody line.

[@catalincarceanu7991]

Add Wolfovitz and Zbigniew Brzezinsky

[@AddieHilton]

Nuland-Kagan cabal.

[@marinblaze]

@@AddieHilton PNAC

[@frontiervirtcharter]

Russia was just mad that American oligarchs would benefit from Ukraine instead of Russian ones. How many trillions of RMB would that coal and iron sell for?

[@maxfandorin]

Weird how this video shows up a year after being made. But two things: Donetsk and Donbas get their name from the river Don that’s further east. And second, while mineral resources play some role, the people of Donbas who have since roughly 890’s identified as Russian rose up against a coup government in 2014. Without understanding that the geological map won’t tell you much

[@annaaljorani9298]

This coup was created of Russia. In in this region came russian militery and with force made people to rise against Ukraina. About identity of people who lived in this region - year 890 belonged this area to nomadic turkish tribes, then to Cossacs. A Cossac ataman Chmielnicki made a agreement 1648 with russian tsar to get his support to be a independent Cossacs Hetmanat. Russia exploit the situation, proclaimed those territories as russiens and the Cossacs fought against the tsars many centuries to come. Now russian speaking people in Ukraina don't want to speak russian anymore and change to ukrainian.

[@leonidragozin2247]

Not exactly Don River but rather 'little Don' River, Donets, Don's main right confluent.

[@AK-ze7ro]

If you research the statements made by Igor Girkin he openly admits that he fired the first shot in the Donbas region because there was no interest in reunification with Russia by the locals.

[@photonicemitter9227]

you may be surpeised but actual russian soil is a former ukrainian land. And dosnt matter who and what is said about identification as russian. Wait for a decade and Steven Seagal wil say he is ruzzian

[@MrTarmakan]

Americans: "Did somebody say OIL??!! Democracy on the way!" As always...

[@Brommear]

But this time it is Russia that is after the oil!

[@blind8686]

Please entertain putting the joint down. And after you finish gaming, please consider making your bed and locating your socks.

[@tomaskinoshta7589]

Ukraine does not have much oil, but Ukraine does have the biggest iron ore deposits in Europe (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)

[@SG-js2qn]

The US doesn't need oil, but Europe does, and Russia is continually trying to control Europe by controlling their foreign lines of energy. It's the Great Game, not a US hunger for oil.

[@donaldcarey114]

Helpful hint: Get paid in vodka, Komrad, the ruble isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

[@1953dito]

In the pre-war period, during the industrialization of the Soviet Union, this area was referred to in communist dogma as "the heart of Russia", as the basis of industrialization. The Luhansk and Donetsk regions were added to the agriculturally dominated peasant region of Ukraine by Stalin in the 1920s as a Russian-dominated working-class region for administrative and mainly political-ideological reasons. Workers' and peasants' state. Not because Ukrainians should find Ukrainians.... The Russian-dominated Crimea was given to the (administrative region) Ukraine by the Ukrainian President Nikita Khrushchev in the mid-1950s. That is the official language: ... "given" Funny idea... Chancellor Schröder gives Bavaria to Lower Saxony, and a few years later High-(Standard)-German Language is banned. As succinctly as it is scientifically described in this video, it becomes clear what it is mainly about. this geological treasure is also linked to the industrial zones that have been created directly here and the infrastructure that was mainly built during industrialisation, which the West has already taken away from Ukraine as a result of excessive indebtedness. US Senator Lindsey Graham: Ukraine sits on ‘trillion dollars worth of minerals that could be good for our economy’

[@yordanlilov]

Odessa, Herson, Mariupol - they have been Russian cities. Yes, there is a point that geology might have in common with this invasion but as you said - the gas, oil, and coal there are drop in the ocean for russia. In my opinion this war is mostly about military borders - Russia just don't want close relationship between her neighbors and her enemies. Especially Ukraine.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@ashtestes]

@@EarthandSpaceSciencesX haha you are thanking them for their propaganda!

[@spudpud-T67]

lol, Moscow was a French city for a short while.

[@AK-ze7ro]

People lived in these area long before Russia occupied them. They were thriving ports trading with other countries.

[@timtrewyn453]

What's the problem with close relationships?

[@leonardc1303]

He said the unspoken thing….rocks do produce oil. Specially bacteria within the rocks. Why else would we find oil thousands of feet below the regions that ever had plants and biomass. Oil is constantly being produced. It’s a lie that it would ever running out.

[@johncale1849]

yep 400,000,000 rocks - were there forests of vegetation back then? so where is the oil from?

[@markrobinowitz8473]

Also, coal mining peaked around 1976. There's a lot of it, but fossil fuels are finite. Harder to say how much gas is there, but clearly enough for an imperialistic takeover. There were also population disruptions after the Holodomor (Stalin's forced starvation of Ukraine) so that's part of the reason why Donbas has a higher percentage of Russian speakers as opposed to the rest of Ukraine.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

You make an interesting point about the Holodomor having a major effect on the demographics of that region which I had not previously considered.

[@yordanlilov]

Gladomor (holodomor as you call it) is forced not only by Stalin. It is also result of Polish and Romanian politics at that time. Think that there are mostly russian speaking people because those lands used to belong to Russia for a long time. Just before the USSR there used to be Russia

[@vladnut]

@@yordanlilov is not true

[@bunsdad4530]

A lot of this is metallurgical coal which is much more expensive per tonne. There is also many many other goodies here salt titanium gold rare earths etc

[@davidturgeon2087]

I do not think you are correct in thinking the famine to which you refer had any effect upon the demographics of the Donbass, which had always been a majority Russian speaking region since the time at least of Catherine the Great.

[@EvelinaJekabsone-n7t]

You ask why all this? Ok, here's my opinion. It all started in 2014. When the West of Ukrain came to the East. And the descendants of the people who won the Second World War, under pressure from lovers of the “Aryans,” had to consider the accomplices of Hitler and Mussolini as heroes. And speak a different language. As of 2014, Ukraine had already been independent for 23 years. But people could speak their native russian, look at the map of the distribution of languages. And then the Nazis come and say to speak in a foreign language, demolish monuments to heroes, do things that are completely alien to the indigenous population things. And you are right, miners live in Donbass. They did not greet these essentially invaders with flowers, but the way their ancestors met the Germans 70 years ago - with weapons. The only thing that upsets us is the former allies, who also won the war along with The USSR is now supporting the Nazis. All for the sake of 300% profit, right? 😢😢😢

[@samaipata4756]

The US and EU have a huge economical interest in Eastern Ukraine, whereas Russia has a huge ethnical interest based on the fact that Eastern Ukraine is dominantly occupied by Russian speaking people! But most of all NATO needs to stand out of the Ukraine a very legitimate demand of Russia!

[@weeciaran2967]

That was most usefull, thank you, I have been viewing this from a historical ethical political point not a resource basis, glad I came across this, most useful. 6/23/2024

[@utube11505]

This war is all about owning-controlling wealth from natural resources. Oil &gas resources are all about geology, and so are, in a different way, the Ukranian glacially deposited soils that created some of the best farm lands in the world.

[@haribo836]

First time viewer of your channel. Came here because of my interest in the war in Ukraine, but geology or any science for that always catches my eye. Very interesting angle to make a video of a warzone, but I loved it. Learned about the war, learned about geology. Ive subscribed to learn more about geology, you present it very well.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you!

[@AmazingPhilippines1]

Very much appreciate your take on the geology of the area and a new sub here. There are a number of sites that "map" the war, some pro west, some pro Rus, and some "neutral". A sight called Military Summary on yt does just that in summing up much of what is happening on the ground.

[@MichaelSteffen-g3w]

If you want to understand the military aspects, there is no better source than the Military Summary channel. Thank you for your video, I found it confirmational.

[@kinasek]

Three main reasons : (1) Russia can't allow NATO military control over such a large and strategic neighbor (2) Russia can't project naval power in the Black Sea without a land bridge to Crimea. (3) Donbass/Donetsk is (was) the industrial heart of Ukraine ; it was developed by Russian-speaking people using Russian investments.

[@callejondorado]

Rusia is going for the 4 Donbas regions. Period. The south part is almost done, but the top part is a wider area for the Russians to cover. Interesting geological description though.

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

Russia wants security for itself and for the Russian populations that dominate Crimea and the Donbas. NATO wants to steal Ukraine's mineral resources and arable land, followed by Russia's. Chalk and cheese my friend.

[@GarrisonFall]

Because of the mineral, agricultural and industrial wealth of those four regions. The access to Crimea's warm water ports, blocking Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, and a land bridge to Moldova and beyond are also major factors.

[@EvelinaJekabsone-n7t]

Все это очень интересно, но вы делаете неверные выводы. Не для России эти места интересны, а для Украины. (Не хотят отдавать такой вкусный кусок, на людей им плевать). Это в основном рускоговорящий регион (как и столица, кстати).И они не захотели подвергаться насильственной ассимиляции западными украинцами, навязывающими им чужой язык и героев.Поищите карту языков в Украине.Только не 2023 года, а 2010, или 2012. И сравните с этими геологическими и военными.Потом поищите историческую карту Российской Империи, и посмотрите, кто и где жил в этом регионе.Особенно после Русско-Турецких войны во второй половине 18века. ~1783. This is all very interesting, but you are drawing the wrong conclusions. These places are interesting not for Russia, but for Ukraine. (They don’t want to give away such a tasty piece, they don’t care about people) This is mainly a Russian-speaking region (like the capital, by the way). And they did not want to be subjected to forced assimilation by Western Ukrainians, who were imposing a foreign language and heroes on them. Look for a map of languages ​​in Ukraine. Not 2023, but 2010, or 2012. And compare with these geological and military ones. Then look for a historical map of the Russian Empire, and look , who and where lived in this region. Especially after the Russian-Turkish war in the second half of the 18th century.

[@MrDomingo55]

'Why is Russia so interest in area around Donetsk (City)' ? This question is silly. Rebels of Donetsk and Lughansk have lost so many thousands of their people since 2014 and all because of Ukrainian shelling. Battles are heavy as Ukrainians have built extensive defenses and driving Ukrainian army away from Donetsk is primary objective. This has mostly been achieved and so shelling from artillery eased off except for long range shelling with use of Himars rockets. For whatever reason Ukrainians insist on targetting cities of Donetsk and Belgorod. Militarily it achieves nothing but kills civilians and makes Russians more determined.

[@gregdeane8937]

These maps explain the $12 trillion worth of resources Lindsay Graham is so excited about, and why he has no qualms about 500,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers.

[@Russkiy_Partizan]

Thank you. It would be very valuable if you updated this program

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

I'm considering it. Many people seem interested in the lithium aspect of this conflict.

[@buzzpatch2294]

HERE IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG- REASONS- >>> For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter? “ >>> How the nation of Ukraine ranks: >>> 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores; >>> 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves; >>> 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves); >>> 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons); >>> 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves; >>> 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters) >>> 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources; >>> 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons) >>> Ukraine is an agricultural country: >>> 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area; >>> 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume); >>> 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil; >>> 2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports; >>> 3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world; >>> 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world; >>> 5th largest rye producer in the world; >>> 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons); >>> 8th place in the world in wheat exports; >>> 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs; >>> 16th place in the world in cheese exports. >>> Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people. >>> Ukraine is an industrialized country: >>> 1st in Europe in ammonia production; >>> 2-е Europe's and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU); >>> 3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants; >>> 3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km); >>> 3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment; >>> 3rd largest iron exporter in the world >>> 4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world; >>> 4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers; >>> 4th place in the world in clay exports >>> 4th place in the world in titanium exports >>> 8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates; >>> 9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products; >>> 10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).

[@markrobinowitz8473]

Russia has been trying to control Ukraine's resources for centuries. The yellow on the Ukrainian flag symbolizes wheat. They have excellent farmland. "Lebensraum," Russian style.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Ukraine's fertile soils are probably worth more than all of it's gas and coal combined, much of it atop the Ukrainian shield. Only the rich, black soils of the American midwest exceed Ukraine's soil fertility globally and even then not by much.

[@hawkbartril3016]

Wow really. Do you realize Ukraine was in Russian hands until after ww2. Where do you get centuries from, unless your trying to put some western SPIN on to it. And no doubt the nazi faction of Ukraine would rather have their fascist insignia on the flag, as they have on most of the flags the Ukrainian military brandish

[@thomasjgallagher924]

The geology part is interesting, but the conclusions and suppositions aren't accurate. Geography, economics, history, and geopolitics are going to be more instructive. 1. This was never a turf war. Putin wants the control of all of Ukraine (and not just Ukraine). Why would you send the bulk of your initial invasion forces to Kyiv in the north if he just wanted Donbas? Putin doesn't want to lose control of Ukraine and instructed Yanokovich to take Ukraine off the EU path in 2013, which is what started Maidan, etc etc. 2. The video is right about the geological influence on development in the region, but... well did any of the viewers notice how he ignored the coal and energy near the iron in the west? There's more to why this region industrialized so much more than elsewhere. This is the area first taken by Catherine in her imperial expansion and the river(s) provided transport and energy (lots of hydroelectric power). So along with Donetsk, your other big cities in the east are Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia; none of which are techincally in Donbas (the "the" is not necessary since Donbas is one word... and THE Ukraine is just wrong). These cities industrialized partly because of proximity to resources but also because they were colonized by Russians earlier and they were closer to Russia's population and industrial centers. Over in the western edge, that didn't become part of the Ukrainian SSR until the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet invasion of Poland in WW2. 3. This is the most heavily Russified part of modern Ukraine along with Crimea. I know folks in these areas that are embarrassed about their Ukrainian in front of me simply because I live in the western part of Ukraine where there is almost no Russian spoken. (My Ukrainian sucks.) That said, do NOT buy the BS that ethnic Russians were mistreated in Ukraine. If anything they were the political and economic majority. It was the east that was wealthier than the west, although that is changing and will have to change. It was political opportunism fostered by the Kremlin that caused the initial invasion in 2014, which Putin again thought would spread like wildfire because of the large Russian-speaking population. It did not. All oblasts of Ukraine voted for Ukrainian independence in 1991 and the people who are dying and fighting most in this conflict come from this part of Ukraine. Putin is murdering ethnic Russians who want no part of his mafia state. You needn't be a fluent Ukrainian speaker to be a patriot. Heaven knows Zelenskyy wasn't before running for president. 4. The reason that so much heavy fighting was and is (summer 2024 as I write) has been going on in Bakhmut and Avdivka is because of the proximity of Donetsk City, which has been under Russian control since 2014. This is the easiest logistical area for Russia supply and to mount operations. Luhansk to the north may be closer to Moscow but the rail and road connections are worse, and Luhansk city is much smaller. 5. Ukraine's oil and gas output is relatively tiny for its land area. I think the Nederlands has a similar gas output. Neither country is noted for either, although Ukraine can "feed" itself if it so chooses (at greater expense) even with the lost fields in the east. It's a big country but its energy needs are quite small along with the small economy. In the Eurasian region, there are much more important players like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and obviously Russia. So the geology is interesting but it has nothing to do with the cause of the war or why the fighting is happening where it is.

[@StipanRamon]

Excellent analysis. Thank you very much!!!

[@kevindarroch7332]

Thank you for your very good detailed information,. Sad, Ukraine should have been neutral, who needs the war-mongers destroying their land with second-hand ammunition.

[@HoroRH]

Thx. I'd suggest that if you're using maps with small lettering, you use higher resolution

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

I wish I could. I recorded this on an old MacBook Air manufactured in 2014 and it’s limited in that way. However, it’s still my go-to computer and works like a champ.

[@somaday2595]

Agreed. The reserves of the Yuzovsky field could supply Ukraine's needs for the next 50 years at the very high rates consumed in the late 1980s. Russia does not need more NG reserves, but it does want to control competition and keep Ukraine its vassal state. Production fell dramatically and Russia stepped in with low cost NG. When Ukraine fell behind in payments because of the miserable economy of the 1990s in the old Soviet bloc countries, Putin made the deal to trade the NG debt owed to Russia for Ukraine's strategic and many tactical weapons that were left following the scrapping required by the arms reduction agreements and elimination of nuclear weapons. Putin tried manipulating European nations in 2022 by withholding NG. In Summer 2021, Russia significantly raised the NG price to European, a season when NG prices were typically lower and consumers would be filling their local reserves for the following winter. Perhaps Russia was looking at gaming the market. And later Russia, with NG prices still high, had pretty much cut off the flow of NG through Nord Steam 1 prior to its destruction. But this came back to bite Russia when large LNG facilities were quickly put into use and imports from the USA and elsewhere were actually lower than the Russian NG prices in 2021. Besides the silica iron ore, coal and NG, it has been said eastern Ukraine is mineral rich in lithium, nickel, copper and cobalt. Did the USA come to Ukraine's aid in 2022 to protect present and future business interests? Quite unlikely. The value of USA company assets in Russia far exceeded those in Ukraine in 2022. And the same is true in regards to new petroleum/ NG production. Participation in the Russian Sakhalin 1 and 2 projects were valued more than the Yuzovsky field. Even after Russia screwed BP out of billions of dollars in earlier projects, it still wanted to participate in Sakhalin 2 and others.

[@johncourtneidge]

Many thanks. I'm a PhD Chemist who did Geology 1 rather than Physics 1A at Bristol in 1969. I have a 2" thick hardback book entitled 'Ukraine' published by Cambridge University Press in 1940. Lots still to be read there by me. The geology as well described here is an important factor. As is the Federal Reserve Bank system-generated USDollar: issue as Interest-bearing debt. That, I'm sure, is at the heart of all this.

[@kevindarroch7332]

Good thoughts thank you..

[@vanfja]

Natural resources play such a minor role in this conflict. The amount Ukraine has is a drop in the ocean vs the amount Ruzzia has. And the lithium which Lindsey Graham was going on about is a purely American desire. Both Ruzzia and the USA did not start this conflict over nat. resources.

[@eddieBanke22]

I don't know how many of you have actually seen this region. I have. There are what looks like little mountains everywhere. These are slag heaps, mainly from coal mining. Even before the war, there was very little coal mining so most of these slag heaps are unchanged for the last 30 years. This area with the exception of the cities is mainly agricultural and sunflowers are the main crop. There are also large gullies and small ridges so those areas are scrub brush and are not farmed. In climate, this is like Kansas and Missouri. hot and dry in the summer but surprisingly cold in the winter. Prior to the war Donetsk was the most prosperous and modern city in Ukraine. but 10 years of continuous shelling by Ukraine has driven half of the civilians away, mostly to Moscow where there are good jobs. Almost all of the small villages had some sort of industry before the war,. Unfortunately the villages and small cities in what was and is now the combat line is total devastation, not a single house survived. Probably Mariupol will never again be a major steel manufacturing city and instead will be a city of tourism and small industries. That Azov steel plant was obsolete even before it was severely damaged.

[@didierdenice7456]

As a Frenchman I have no beef in this Ukraine tragedy. But as a History teacher who went 3 times to Ukraine (2015, 2016, 2017) and who travelled, extensively lived and studied there for over 6 months... I can tell you that 85% of the people in the West get it all wrong... because they are being fed on a daily basis the usual American hegemony propaganda that they enthousiastically parrot and regurgitate in the social media without having a real clue of what they are talking about !... and yes, that applies to trained geologists as well 😉

[@stanleytolle416]

The UN observers documented there was really little Ukrainian shelling in the Dombas area. The out flux of people was the result of deteriorating economic conditions of the area. The shelling issue is really Russian false propaganda. If you want proof simply look at the satellite images of the area which show little or no shelling damage except in actual conflict areas.

[@annaaljorani9298]

"continuous shelling by Ukraine" is this a misstake, or you are a russian lover? It`s Russia bombing the whole region and destroing cities and land. People was forced by russians to move to Russia and many of them than moved to Baltic countries, others escaped to Ukraine. So please, don`t spread a fals information.

[@georget7028]

Kiev called it the rust belt in 2014.

[@stanleytolle416]

@@eddieBanke22 both the UN observers and satellite imagery have documented that the Dombas area was not heavily shelled. In fact, most of the "shelling" was short falling shells attempting to fire into Ukrainian held territory. So it was not shelling that has driven people out of this area. Most reports of the cause of out migration from this area blame poor economic conditions and political repression.

[@thomasarmstrong1706]

A nice intro into the geology and its relationship to key strategic issues in the region. No matter what the Russian or Ukrainian interests actually are, the geology plays a major role in it. A question regarding the tectonics and the structures of the Donbas region. You (and several other geologists that have published on the geology of the region,) interpret the basin as having formed within a bulk extensional setting (evidenced by the extensional faults in the area). Yet the overall structural geometry, as deduced from the A-A' cross-section, is one of bulk shortening. If you were to conduct a palinspastic analysis (that is, put a string along a major contact and across the A-A' cross-section) and then pin one end of the string, while pulling away from the other end, the string when flat (undeformed) would become longer than the string in its previously deformed state. This leads me to my question: is it possible that the basin actually formed earlier and was subsequently deformed during one or more compressional events? If so, it could have a big impact on the actual thermal structure of the basin (post the younger deformational event influencing unconventional gas and oil deposits). Just curious thanks to your fantastic treatise on KZbin!

[@junetrenholm9810]

Although this video was done a year ago, this is the first I’ve seen it - very interesting. Bachmut was of interest to Russia because western Ukraine had spent 8 years militarizing it, there were about 30,000 troops stationed there, and it was a weapons storage area. It supplied the troops and weapons that attacked and shelled eastern Ukraine, mostly civilian centres, for 8 years, 2014 to 2022, prior to Russia entering Ukraine. 14,000 people died in those years, mostly civilian and mostly east Ukrainians. Removing Bachmut and Avdiivka from the fight was a strategic necessity for Russia. Of geological note, both areas had large underground tunnel systems related to coal mines, that connected the centres to areas deeper in Ukraine, that allowed for easy, undetected resupply of troops and weapons.

[@elbuggo]

East Ukrainians are basically Russians.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

I appreciate you posting your views and insights on this issue. Indeed, I made this video way back in 2022 and was just watching the movements of troops as they would appear on a geologic map and began asking myself these questions. I did not know that history of a military buildup in Bakhmut, that is very interesting.

[@glidermike1]

I think you stretched the truth a little there! The troop were stationed there in RESPONSE to the revolt in the Donbas and an attempt to be part of Russia. In fact it was a 2014 invasion by Russia, remember the anonymous "green men" that Putin sent?

[@thatsbollox]

The geology might seem important to Americans because their corporates always come in after a conflict. Its the last thing Russia needs though....they've got everything already, and more.

[@philiptilden2318]

During his mutiny, Prigozhin said the war was all about seizing Ukraine’s resources and dividing them up between the oligarchs. So the geology is probably quite important.

[@marekjanczewski]

Prigożyn był durniem.

[@nx3696]

Prigoshin had visions of grandeur. look at the map. The Don bass is probably just 2% of Russia. Russia already has vast land and natural resources.

[@marekjanczewski]

@@nx3696 It's true 👍

[@pierrevincent9568]

@@philiptilden2318 just like britain in its colonies

[@ViceCoin]

That's why resource-poor West is spending $trillions on a Eastern European failed sate.

[@stevenniccoli5967]

Very Interesting Video! Im glad i stumbled upon you! This makes it Much Clearer in my mind as to Why Russia Wants this Area. I should have Known, it's The NATURAL RESOURCES! It's the Money that Russia Wants!

[@MariaMatic-qb9mj]

Its the US that wants this area that's why US caused a maidam coup in 2014 and caused a proxy war to weaken Russia so they can steal the resources in Ukraine.

[@relax-ie3mp]

Interesting about the geology you presented. Though, the conflict is not for the fight of resources. This actually distorted the reason for the conflict. If you ever listen to Putin's multiple times explaining his reason to protect Eastern Ukraine. 1) Nato is about to cross the red line trying to move into Ukraine. Thia is existential to Russia. No one listens. The West is only interested in weakening Russia. 2) The Minsk Accord was not implemented. The Accord was to give some autonomy to the Eastern Ukraine Russian speaking Ukrainian. This was never implemented due to the neo-Nazi ideology of Western Ukraine. Media totally bypassed the shelling of Eastern Ukraine by this neo-nazi military since 2014 to 2022. 2022 was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Russia fights and protects the Russian speaking Ukrainians. If Minsk Accord were implemented and no NATO moving next door to Russia, this conflict would never have happened. The heavy fighting in the eastern Ukraine is a Russian military strategy, a war of attrition. It's to deNazify Ukraine. Let neo-nazi keep bringing troops in the area. Also, Russia has no interest in taking Ukraine territory in the west. So sad about all the lives lost for a simple reason of hating the Russian, hence not listening to their interests. The West tried to trample on (and weaken) Russia by a quick hot war and combined with an economic war, which both Russia is winning on. The West has totally underestimated Russia.

[@ozzyolof9209]

In 1921 when Lenin drew up the “Soviet Union,Ukraine consisted of a few impoverished agrarian provinces,hence he “added”Donbass And are now returning to Mother Russia after severe UKR persecution

[@relax-ie3mp]

@ozzyolof9209 If we were to apply the principal of democracy from the West, let the people vote. Eastern Ukraine voted, and they want to go with Russia.

[@cathycurrie6305]

The resources are for the West. Barisma blackrock

[@maryhuckaby2239]

"The West has totally underestimated Russia." Yup.

[@hakanlundberg]

We listen to Putins hogwash many times.

[@evilaquaman]

nice video touching on the geology, no mention on if the salt mines that Wagner took control of? Maybe closer to 10-20%, no remark that the reason for people living in this area is farming, food production, look at the meaning of the national flag. Slava Ukraini

[@heinrichlorenzen8671]

No comment, because as you said, only leave a comment about geology. This is not about geology for Russia. BUT for US and EU it is about geology. Russia simply has decided to defend the Russian population. Russia has enough oil and gas as you mentioned.

[@frontiervirtcharter]

The population, oil and gas aren't the key goals for Russia. The Russian population in Ukraine is the marketing excuse for the war. Much of the male population in Donbass has already been sent to die in the trenches. Conveniently, the marketing campaign omits how and why they got there. Russia's strategic interest in the parts of Ukraine that Putin is not yet willing to concede: * Sevastopol and its geographic defenses * At least 10 trillion USD in coal and iron deposits in Donbas, in service range of hydroelectric and nuclear power

[@davidpaulmert800]

I think Putin didn't like the idea of a pro west developed Ukraine. It would have made him look bad comparing standard of living between the 2 countries. Whatever was there for resources was a bonus

[@annafilippova7505]

All five congresses of the Russian Communist Party were held in Europe. Three of them were in London. The division of the state into national regions is a path to disintegration. The bankers in London and Washington knew this very well. They paid for the work of professional revolutionaries (Lenin and his command). At their behest, Lenin did everything to turn the Russian Empire into the union of national republics. The socialist state invested a lot of money on the development of national languages and culture. Good books in Russian were in short supply. In libraries, people signed up to read a novel or a novella... At the same time, the same novel was freely sold in the languages of the Union republics... Lenin literally cut off Donbas from Russia for many years, despite appeals with similar requests from other regions of Ukraine. Thus, in the hustle and bustle of the never-confirmed world revolution, Donbas became part of Ukraine. And he stayed there all these years, never becoming, according to the new Ukrainian authorities, the real Ukraine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gap between the two parts of the country only increased and became incredibly huge after the coup d'état and the events on the Maidan in 2014. Look at the globe! Where is the USA and where is Ukraine? The Russian word "Ukraina" means "periphery". In order to make private counterfeit money a worldwide means of payment, bankers had to organize several financial crises in the United States, revolutions in Russia and other countries, two world wars, and wage constant wars in different countries. The shelf life of the Federal Reserve system was 99 years. It was legalized at the end of 1913. And now the warranty is over. The collapse of the world into currency zones will lead to a significant reduction in the role of the dollar in international settlements. The actions of the deranged rulers of the United States and the Fourth Reich could lead to a nuclear war. Banksters don't care about the number of people who died. "You can also make money on creation, but twenty times slower" - Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind).

[@marjendemhare5892]

Very interesting.

[@tonyoostenbrink7808]

Russia conquered Bakhmut because it was one of the key fortresses of the Ukrainian army since 2014, along with Avdiivka and the Toretsk agglomerations. Note that in March & April 2022, at Instanbul, the Russians and Ukrainians cam to an agreement that would have had Russia taking it s forces out of Ukraine (except Crimea). Boris Johnston, as emissary of the US, deep-sixed this agreement. Why would Russia make such an agreement if its primary concern was the resource riches of the Donetsk basin? The fact that the lingua franca of the Donbas is Russian might have something to do with it.

[@ruslanmustaev8170]

I totally agree that it is all about geology. Especially UK involvement and so strong support of Ukraine because of the Shell.

[@catalincarceanu7991]

UK 's involvement is of political nature and is aimed at the keeping intact the teritorial integrity of the Kingdom.

[@ciarandevoy1769]

From a greedy oil company's perspective it's the oil

[@joe_ninety_one5076]

The UKs foreign policy is not much influenced by Shell.

[@ruslanmustaev8170]

@@joe_ninety_one5076 yeah, keep saying that...

[@meso8848]

US thought they would easily gain control of Donbas and even take Crimea via the illegal coup... They underestimated the population of Donbas :)

[@Kupacolypse]

Great video, and very interesting! Unfortunately this has less to do with oil/gas etc. and more to do with ultranationalist politics and twisted ideologies. There is also the heavy handed manipulation of western interests controlling and dictating policies and narratives. It’s all extremely tragic for both Russians and Ukrainians and I believe most people do not want this war. However most people do not have say. The masses are essentially powerless to the whims of those that govern. And we are seeing the impact of what a relatively small handful of corporate, bureaucratic, and political interests can do to a nation.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you for this thoughtful comment.

[@hawkbartril3016]

Not to mention the people in Europe who are suffering because of their mindless politicians who have buckled to the Americans so they stay the world's policeman. Well that's been such a huge failure as far as peace goes. With a war going on somewhere in the world under US hegemony. Yes for as long as I remember from the 70s

[@mathiasalexander6119]

great presentation

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Glad you liked it!

[@noahway13]

OMG. This comment section is going to be a dumpster fire. Geology fights are the WORST!!

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

lol!

[@diakritika]

But mostly, it's Putin's phantom pain from the "loss" of the Soviet Union.

[@richardrestall8592]

Informative video. I think that Russia is fighting for the Donbas Basin because the Russian-speaking Ukrainian separatists established functional states (Donetsk and Luhansk Republics) in 2014 and kept them going until now. When Minsk Agreement failed, Russia acted in its own interest and the interests of the Donbas Russians. Crimea was about keeping NATO navies out of Sevastopol.

[@jamesgibson2179]

Not Russian ‘occupation’, but ‘reclamation’.

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

James Gibson - more like "Defensible Space" from the Forest Fire NATO tried to Burn Moscow with

[@begun65vdal5]

Think you got no idea on modern history. One must be quite dumb to repeat kremlin narratives without using its own brain.

[@markalexander832]

Yeah, reclaiming the Russian empire. Nothing more. There is a reason that Russians are feared and reviled throughout Eastern Europe. They are brutal, aggressive and imperialistic. Ukraine just wants a decent future.

[@dominioyhosting]

If you listen to Putin regarding the reason of this special operation, you understand that the ukranian goverment was doing etnic cleansing of russia descendants in those regions. Zelenski and neo - facists did not expect russia to defend their people, but russia did.

[@klausellrich5785]

Thank you for this usful information. The geopolitical angle is much more important. The best analysis is provided by Prof. Sachs and Prof. Mearsheimer. Let there be peace in Ukraine.

[@Robert.Chauval]

Agreed. The end game is really a 2 part one.. 1. Destabilise, divide and conquer Rxssia. Its exactly what the AIC modus operandi is.. then raxpe and pillage the Rxssian economy and natural resources.. theres plenty of history demonstrating exactly this scenario.. 2. UXA cannot go to wxr with China until Rxssia is knee-capped and the threat of their massive nuk arsenal is under control . Theyve been steadily trying to drive a wedge between them for quite a while now. But theyre not stupid.. Interesting how EU is in full on war mongering mode nowadays. Could it be that Rxssia was not meant to be winning by now and they were expecting an unstable Rxssia to pick off bit by bit... All i see is panic in the west after their cowboy plans failed ...AGAIN..

[@DerDop]

:))) sachs lol 😂😂😂

[@jasonreed8553]

Mearcheimer...I believe I have more cred than Mearcheimer...He reads and listens to the same people as myself. I haven't heard an original thought come of dude ever.

[@jasonreed8553]

@@DerDop Sacks is the man. He was at the table with Gorbechev!

[@DerDop]

@@jasonreed8553he’s a shill.

[@HeatherMiddleton-p6q]

Ukraines natural resource have always been there if russia had wanted them it would have secured Ukraine 1989. The war is over nato expansion and russias security

[@Moneymyke357]

Interesting subject matter, a new channel to subscribe to.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Glad to have you watching!

[@edvaneckert2348]

I think this issue is one more puzzle part in the Russian equation. Ukrain already was a power house with 130% of electricity needed, So they exported already and so all the other resources would make Ukrain a very prosperous and rich partner of the West. This for the Russian KGB Mafia would be a slap in the face and the own population wouldt like to stay under their PPutinism any longer and Putin would sooner or later lose power. Instead he started this war.... Alos Russia without Sevasttopol harbour would have no more geopolitical access to the Mediteranian and the north Atlantig.... Jib Breczinski already in the 90ies said "Russia without Ukrain cant survive..."

[@laurenth7187]

There is nothing : Only a few reserves of gas and some lithium, which isn't a rare metal. There is only 1 Md m3 of gaz which isn't a big deal. But the US founds bought a lot of agriculture land. Half of Ukraine in fact.

[@1964_AMU]

All the Russian speakers in Donesk are immigrants from Russia sent there to work in the coal industry. The area was populated by Cosaks before. Many Ukrainiens have studied in Moscow and St Petersbourg Universities without learning Russian. Both languages are very close. The ethnic problem in Dombass is a forgery. USSR has been functionning on "goulag slaveship" for 70 years. Cheap manpower that enabled the construction of highways, pipelines, Artic Circle inflastructure. Now, they want to make hundred thousands prisonners in Ukraine to have again this large "goulag slaves" at arms lenght.

[@AmuserPio]

I was born in Donbass. My parents arrived there from their village in the central Ukraine after WWII to escape famine and unpaid slavery work in fields of state farms. I grew up together with children of ukrainian peasants and russian criminals. The last arrived there escaping from justice in Russia. In Donbass it was easy to get a job without a reputation investigation. That's how the Donbass 'culture' grew up.

[@Heater-v1.0.0]

Thank you for that insight. It is not often that we hear anything from the people of Donbas or anything much about its history. Only the story spun by Putin that it is an area of Russians that need "rescuing".

[@glassini]

Ukraine did not exist until Lenin Stalin and Kruschev. Amazing your parents never taught you that. Originally a name for Galicia ..Borderlsnds in Ruthenian..then for a short period A secondary name for the Cossack Hetmanate..then a small patch in Kharkiv. If your family is from the West you are Polish Lithuanian, Romanian or Hungarian of origin as that region rebelled against The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th Century seeking the Russian Tsars protection creating The Hetmanate and becoming Tsar Nicholas 1's mass murderers of Peasants and Jews..The Pogroms..In WW2 the Western Oblast became Nazi..Called The Galicia SS and fought with Germany declaring their independence from the USSR..They were the guards for all the Polish and Hungarian Death Camps..much of my young life they were tracked down and arrested.. The starvation after USSR saved Europe from The Nazi killed 26 million Russians..it happened because The West that had been saved by The USSR led by Britain and The USA sanctioned all grain exports to the USSR..as the USSR and and all its people had been forced to use a scorched earth defense to stop Hitler they were short of Grain..so we in the West decided to STARVE The USSR into submission and break The USSR and grab their oil coal and metals. It did not happen. Ukrainianisation making Russians that had been there for 50 Thousand years have a Ukrainian identity and aly that to the 1917 uprising of The Western Regions who are ethnically as described above not Russian....This was instigated by Lenin who created The Ukraine Adminstrative Region of The USSR in all its form except Crimea which Kruschev attached much later in 59..Lenin was in fact attempting to hand this region to the Odessa Jews which had once after Catherine the Great of Russia built Odessa become up until Nicholas and his Cossacks the greatest Jewish City on Earth..The birth place of Zionism earlier than Herzl and from whence Zionism was exported to The USA. Lenin like all Slavic Jews were not accepted by the burgeoning Zionist movement already moving back to and purchasing land in Then Palestine..Herzl and his German and British Zionist Cronies regarded them as " No better than animals" and "Sub Human" that is a direct quote..they in fact refused initially to issue them Israeli passports and sunk a refugee ship of these Slavic Jews straight after WW2 but were in the end shouted down as Ben Guerions troops were majority made up of Russian USSR army. A rather nasty bit of history that we old enough well remember.. So contrary to the rather historically challenged person who has also commented. UKRAINE as YOU know it IS A Bolshevik Invention..The Eastern and Southern Oblast fought with The USSR during WW2 not Hitler and suffered harshly during WW2 because of it. They are Ethnically Russian who settled the region and began in this region being called various names like Epigrigravettian and Muscovy..The Tartar which are like the Mongol and from the 11th Century from The Western Siberian Steppe and Mongolia ..Turkmenistani from the 14th Century Ottoman empire Invasion. There is Greek DNA from the Byzantine Era as well... Putin gave an abridged but accurate description it is a pity that Racism dominates the mindset of many who would not know what The Cossack Hetmanate was if they heard the term.. Nor the history of NATO Expansionist Theory. And I am Russian, Estonian, Lithuanian Ukrainian ( Galicia) Moldavian Romanian German Swedish and Irish..and l know the history of all my ancestors and clearly yours. Now what are you really?

[@AK-ze7ro]

@@glassini And Putins tells the truth? So his version of anything is reliable? I think not. Remember Kyiv was thriving long before Moscovia ever existed.

[@glassini]

@@AK-ze7ro Yes ..exactly..The Kievan Rus...The Rurik Dynasty..so you just proved to yourself ..Kiev is Russian..very well done you have reached the grade of an 18 year old Wikipedia writer.. Now next step is..The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth..And maybe we can get you to The Odessa Jews..well done.

[@glassini]

@@AK-ze7ro Oh..and l forgot..Putin. Knows the same history everyone else does ...it's real history..unless of course they think you are stupid..in which case you probably think that yellow and blue thing is the Ukrainian Flag..lol..

[@fantasticoadidas]

I think you really hit the nail: Resources are one of the biggest reasons for motion in this conflict. Thanks for sharing !

[@jimgraham6722]

The important issue is that Ukraine has long been recognised as an independent country. At Joseph Stalin's insistence it was a founding member of the UN in 1946 with the currently recognised borders. On the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was again affirmed and recognised as an independent country by Russia, Britain and the US. There is no justification at all for Russia to attack Ukraine or go back on its previous commitments. If ruzzbhad a dispute it should have taken it to the UN, it didnt. A resource grab (theft) is clearly part of what ruzz is trying to get away with here. If it gets its way, stealing resources by force of arms, all bets are off. There will be resource wars all over the place, Venezuela will grab Guiana, China will go for the south China Sea in contravention of the Law of the Sea. There will be plenty of others.

[@mrblack5554]

Glad someone has put a video together on this .. I have been presenting this information for about 6 years. When Chevron (west Ukraine) and Shell (east Ukraine) made their discoveries in 2010 and then worked on proving them, the fracking potential in Kramatorsk area was estimated to provide Ukraine with $40B / year and make it the Saudi Arabia of Europe. October / November 2014 was when Yanukovich signed the deals with Chevron and Shell. If you overlay the timeline of when Mikola Schlochevskiy (Burisma and the Minister of Interior in charge of leasing under Yanukovich) murdered his business partner Lissan and then hired Hunter and the capital investment of CEFC for Burisma to obtain and control the leasing rights to the prime plays in DonBas .. things start to make sense. Yanukovich and Firtash controlled the gas gathering and transportation through Dima Firtash’s NaftoGaz control (their silent partner was Semyon Migolyevich and Putin) .. and Yanukovich and Schlochevskiy controlled the leasing and land (their silent partner was Biden and EU). The EU wanted to control Ukraine’s development (like a corrupt trustee rapes a foster child of their wealth and future) through IMF loans ($15B) subsidizing gas cost to EU and Ukrainian oligarch steel works so both sides benefits - but Ukrainian people would see their gas prices go up to pay for the loan. Putin’s loan didn’t push subsidies on Ukrainian people AND didn’t have the land reform that allowed foreigners to buy up the land.. very very important. The crime we committed (I was there at energy conference backstage when Nuland told Biden Yanukovich rejected the deal and he freaked out screaming). This entire war is a coverup for a crime .. in which both sides were going to sell energy and food to China.. Insanity and Vanity.. all about geology

[@tomaskinoshta7589]

bogus report. Although the gas under Sloviansk is reported to be the largest in Ukraine (2 trillion m3 of gas) that is puny compared to Russia with 48 trillion M3 of gas. Of course, Russia will not allow the USA access to 2 trillion m3 of gas less than 100m from the Russian border.

[@telebubba5527]

Interesting. But Yanukovich was not in power anymore in 2014. The Revolution of Dignity took place in February 2014 and he was voted out by his own party. Also the EU never wanted to control Ukraine's development and it never ever tried to. The EU was even happy for the EU deal to go together with the Russian offer, but the Russians didn't want it that way. Putin has been extorting the Ukrainians since he came to power in 1999. Frequently he shut off the fuel supplies, even under his own stooges in the Ukrainian government. That was what the Revolution of Dignity was all about. Putin's 'loan' would definitely have pushed the Ukrainians into higher costs and he would have kept them on Russian gas and oil to keep controlling them. Developing their own resources was a too large risk, as it would have made Ukraine independent on Russian fuel and give them a constant flow of energy and they would have earned from it by selling to the EU. Your reasoning is very flawed and reeks more like the Russian propaganda.

[@hakanlundberg]

⁠​⁠@@tomaskinoshta7589Lol. The EU is evidently about minimizing corruption. And it’s done in an open fashion where most information is open to the public. And you Russians. You do under that the EU is an organization of 27 independent nations with governments that are critical to each other, some left wing some rightwing. They all have bureaucratic organization inspecting spendings and actions, and they all inform their public all numbers in different ways. And some opposing politicians would dream of finding dirt on other parties/nations. And as you know there are anti-EU and pro-Russian politicians too having access to all information. Most of these nations rank way way lower than Russia (and even the US) when it comes to corruption. That type of ranking is done by international organizations that Russia also has insight into. Like in Sweden when one of the worst cases of national political corruption was when a ranking member of the parliament by mistake payed with her parliamentarian debit card instead of her own when she bought a chocolate bar for her kid… and her own party was so upset she had to leave politics for a few year. You really then believe all… any… politicians in the Swedish parliament, including the more Russia-positive ones, and environmentalists who ejects anything fossil fuel, etc., who have access to the full information of the national and the EU budget and spendings, would not find out and would not reveal it?! I mean, in Sweden even details in military spendings are seldom secrets. Nah… some secret plot where the EU is in on whatever you claim isn’t possible. You don’t understand what the EU is. Neither do you understand how the independent international institutions, where Russia also has insight, that defeat corruption globally works. All your conspiracies are just in the head of someone from a nation where similar things would be possible and also happens. Ukraine wanted to join the EU for the obvious reason that every nation who join gets a boost in economic and social progress. And the whys to this are known. And it isn’t because corruption prosper and governments or the rich steal from the taxpayers. Obviously Ukraine would have been, and will now be even more, a net receiver for long. As many other member nations are. Whatever you claim the EU is about to scam Ukraine with, even if it were true, the other EU nations will evidently provide massive amounts more to Ukraine to eject Russia and rebuild Ukrainian infrastructure. There were UN organizations and other international organizations, the EU (all 27 nations), a bunch of other nations, and the US (Joe, but obviously taking to much credit for his part) who demanded that Ukraine fired a pro-Russian prosecutor who had a track of doing nothing to end corruption. When he was fired the new one started to go after corrupt organizations, including Burisma and the pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch who owned it (through other corporations). Neither Ukraine, the DOJ under Trump’s administration, and the GOP lead House turning every stone to find dirt on Biden, have presented any evidence that Hunter himself was involved in corruption in Ukraine. Although Hunter’s actions can be criticized from a moral perspective (leaving it here). Earlier the leases of natural resources was governed by bribes (and yes, western corporations were involved, but you’re forgetting that Russian oligarchs owns many western corporations directly and indirectly), so the pro-Russian or Russians who owned the leases (and Westerners too I suppose) didn’t get to lease any longer. And the leases are now governed by capitalist principles: The entity that gains the taxpayers the most, get to lease them. Although sure, you can always find details to criticize. As is there still more corruption in Ukraine than in most (possible all) EU nations and the US. But it has been decreasing since Russian corrupt entities were ejected.

[@tonyoostenbrink7808]

you stated "October / November 2014 was when Yanukovich signed the deals with Chevron and Shell." I'm surprised because this is a full year after the Maidan uprising started in the Fall of 2013, and a half-year after Crimea voted to join Russia, and Yanukovych was pro-Russian.

[@johanrebel9252]

You forgot to mention the Lithium deposits, the rare earth metals, and the black soil. Much of this is being promised as collateral to Western interests. As to why the Russians are fighting in the Donetsk, you need to put your political thinking cap on. The Russian oblasts tried (some failed) to become autonomous after the Western putsch that put the nationalists/nazis in control. Lugansk & Donetsk declared independence and had a civil war for 10 years; finally Russia stepped in to prevent genocide and to defend the human rights and sovereignty of the people that live in Novorossiya. Nato/US is behind the precipitation of the "ethnic" tensions into all out conflict. You seem burdened by the false propaganda that this is mainly about territorial conquest.

[@jerryjackson9481]

In 2006 I served with a medical mission team in Donetsk, seeing a large number of residents as patients and interacting with our local support staff. This does not make me an expert on the region, but I did gain a sense of the people there. East of the Dnieper River everyone speak Russian. I have read of the mass starvation in that region during the 1930’s. Combining that with your excellent commentary on the oil workers moving there from Western Siberia, it seems that the former population had been replaced by people migrating from deeper inside Russia. We went through Deniepro-Petrovsk which is up on the shield east of the Donbas. The region between Donetsk and Deniepro held amazing agricultural land. Does not geology determine to some degree the quality of soil? I suspect Russia wants the Donbas and areas to its east for multiple reasons: to repatriate native Russians, to regain the agricultural zone for wheat and sunflower production, for the oil and gas, and as a strategic buffer from the West. I do not feel any of this justifies the resulting human tragedy. And all this is only my personal speculations.

[@moblet]

Putin speaks exclusively about the invasion's purpose being to subjugate the Ukrainian people, and all the Ukrainian commentators I've observed have framed the conflict in terms of Russian colonial ambition and haven't mentioned natural resources in relation to Ukraine, although some have contended that most of what we call Russia is an expanse of colonies whose resources are plundered for the benefit of ethnic Russians. There is clear demographic evidence that the bulk of the "Russian" soldiers sent to Ukraine are drawn from "non-core" regions primarily populated by people who are not ethnically Russian. That said, the Donbas being an economic powerhouse gives it strategic value in the struggle, as controlling its output can be used to weaken Ukraine (although I read somewhere that after 2014 Russia didn't displace the Ukrainian oligarch who basically controlled it; this changed in 2022). From a purely military standpoint the numerous urban centres and terrain of the Donbas area will make it more difficult for Ukraine to liberate than any of the other occupied areas, so it was a good target for Russia in 2014 from that perspective too. A standard Russian tactic is to maintain at least one "breakaway region" in countries that aspire to join NATO and/or the EU (e.g. Moldova & Georgia) as territorial incompleteness is a barrier to entry.

[@radiozvrk6784]

So what are the reasons for West to fight across the globe? For freedom? 🤣🤣🤣 Good old western peacekeepers 🤣🤣🤣

[@IFarmBugs]

​@@radiozvrk6784For the first time in history, defending your country's sovereignty and preventing the desolation of your culture is considered a foreign interest. The Ukrainians in occupied territories who are kidnapped and tortured for not converting to the Russian language should just suck it up right.

[@moblet]

@@radiozvrk6784 Firstly, "the West" isn't fighting, it's only providing material assistance to the Ukrainians so that they can fight for themselves. Nowhere near the level of engagement that occurred in the World Wars. It has sent observers under OSCE (prior to 2022) but never peacekeepers. Some reasons for providing this assistance include: - Having been parties to security agreements with Ukraine prior to the start of the war. Russia was in an agreement to guarantee Ukraine's security but decided to break it. - The Ukrainians want to be an independent democratic country and not to be controlled by a foreign power, and they've asked pretty much everyone on the planet for help. For the US in particular this has been enough reason to get directly involved in other conflicts, and the fact that the US hasn't is a clue that this fight isn't about supposed US control of Ukraine's natural resources. - Putin has made it clear that if succeeds in Ukraine he won't stop there, a direct threat to other European nations. He has made many statements about changing the current global order, from which the US is the largest single beneficiary. A good source for interpreting Russia in this regard is any leader from the Baltic states. They're all on the same page. - Preventing nuclear proliferation. If Ukraine goes under then other small and medium sized nations will be more likely to conclude that they need to have nuclear weapons to protect themselves.

[@stavrosk.2868]

Are you an American? By your logic, LEAVE right away back to your ancestors' homeland and give the land back to the indigenous people.

[@peterazlac1739]

Russia has no need for any of the mineral or energy resources in Ukraine since they have far greater amounts within their own territory and given commitments to Net Zero the market for coal in Europe, especially lignite is minimal with both Poland and Germany having major fields. Russia fighting this Special Military Operation to protect its ethnic Russia citizens in the East and South of Ukraine who were taken into Ukraine in 1992 without a referendum and have now left after a referendum, just like Crimea. The UN, US and EU have a double standard with NATO detaching Kosovo from Serbia by force but it getting acceptance from the UN and International Court whereas Crimea, and Donbas that followed the UN requirements for self determination have not showing that the so called international order is a farce and simple a tool of the US that does not even recognize the International Court.

[@anthonyhill6943]

Thank you for this very interesting video.

[@EarthandSpaceSciencesX]

Thank you for your appreciation!