Juicy, Tasty Ukraine! By James Reed

I got the following by email, with no reference, but it seems correct. The Ukraine has a lot of wealth that Russia would surely like. I don’t go for Vlad the Lad’s justification that this is all one Russia, so let’s come together at the point of a bayonet. I think economics would come first, and if the place was a poor dump, no-one would bother. This reads like a tyrant’s shopping list.

“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. 
2nd in Europe and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bn 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).”