Re: The struggle for rare earth metals.

Excerpt from Wikipedia on the democratic referendum by Crimea to join Russia

Quote

The official result from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was a 97 percent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation, with an 83 percent voter turnout, and from Sevastopol there was also a 97 percent vote for integration with Russia, with an 89 percent voter turnout.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_status_referendum#:~:text=The%20official%20result%20from%20the,an%2089%20percent%20voter%20turnout.

Majority of people from Donbas voted to join Russia too. This is about a legitimate right to be free from injustice and oppressive forces not about so called rare earth