Links and Stuff
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Yesterday's discussion post.
If we assume that Russia is going for Novorossiya, which Putin has regarded as constituting Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa, then it's worth noting that those oblasts collectively make up 21% of the Ukrainian GDP; with Zaporizhzhia, it's 25%, and with Dnipro, it's 35%.
Mariupol has 50% of Ukraine's steel industry. According to Wikipedia, Ukrainian iron and steel industry accounts for around 2% of worldwide crude steel output, 5% to 6% of the national gross domestic product and 34% of Ukrainian export revenue. Ukraine has a fifth of the world's commercial iron ore reserves, or about 11% of the total pure iron, behind Russia and Australia, and it seems a great deal/most of this mining is in the Dnipro oblast, but there is also some in Kherson and Donetsk.
Dnipro oblast also has one of the most manganese-rich ore veins in the world, and Ukraine has 75% of the manganese reserves of the former CIS, though globally it provides a small percentage of total manganese despite having 10% of the global reserves.
Coal using for coke is mined in Donetsk oblast, as well as in Dnipro. The coal mines in Ukraine are among the deepest in Europe.
Zapor. oblast also has the only producer of titanium sponge in Ukraine and Europe - Zaporizhzhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine LLC - according to this source. "The plant specializes in producing titanium slag, titanium ingots, slabs, and titanium oxide and titanium aluminium alloys." Also, "Ukrainian Chemical Products is the main supplier of titanium dioxide on the domestic market."
There is an aluminium refining plant in Mykolaiv and a aluminium smelting plant in Zapor. oblast, and one of Ukraine's two fertilizer plants is located in Dnipro. oblast. Nepheline, used for soda, is located mostly in the Donetsk, Dnipro, and Zapor. oblasts. Donetsk has significant amounts of rock salt.
Natural gas is produced in Ukraine in the Dniper-Donetsk region, with about 50% in Kharkiv oblast and another 40% further north, as well as in Crimea (though that ship has sailed) and a small amount in the far west of the country. However, these reserves only make up 3% of Russia's natural gas reserves. Ukraine's oil fields are located in the west of the country.
Most of Ukraine's energy is generated by gas and coal, much of which is imported. A small percentage comes from nuclear and oil. 10% comes from renewables, half of which is hydro power. Zapor. oblast has the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which Russia currently controls. The other three nuclear power plants in Ukraine are essentially safe from Russia in a Novorossiya scenario.
Manufacturing is largely located in Novorossiya states, with some factories in Lviv. These produce iron products, as well as agricultural equipment. The chemical industry is mostly located outside of Novorossiya, however.
Ukraine, as most people know, is a major agricultural producer, with agriculture making up something like a tenth of its GDP. It produces most of the world's sunflower oil and is the largest honey producer in Europe. It is the 5th largest producer of maize, 8th of wheat, 3rd of potatoes, 7th of sugar beets, 7th of barley, 7th of rapeseed, 5th of cabbage, 3rd of pumpkins, 6th of cucumbers, 5th of carrots, 4th of dry peas, 7th of rye, 3rd of buckwheat, and 6th of peanuts. While the areas in which each crop is grown differ, in general, agriculture takes place all across Ukraine, with the central area being less productive, and the west and east (particularly Lugansk) being more productive, with the south (Kherson, Odessa, etc) being in the middle.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_production_in_Ukraine
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/Resources-and-power
https://www.mindat.org/locentries.php?p=3275&m=2880
https://yadda.icm.edu.pl/baztech/element/bwmeta1.element.baztech-178deb91-69cf-42e0-9057-c972384480da/c/01_syvyi_demyanchuk_havryshok_phosphates_of_ukraine_as_raw_2019_4.pdf
https://www.rand.org/blog/2022/04/russia-does-not-seem-to-be-after-ukraines-gas-reserves.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/t22zkc/map_detailing_the_largely_untapped_gas_and_oil/
https://www.iea.org/countries/ukraine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Ukraine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Ukraine#Agriculture
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Gross-agricultural-production-by-regions-in-Ukraine-2010_fig5_283418456
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