DONETSK, June 26. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army tried to hold the community of Shevchenko in the west of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) due to the lithium deposit located in that area, adviser to the DPR head Igor Kimakovsky told TASS on Thursday.

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

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on June 26 that Battlegroup East units had liberated the settlement of Shevchenko in the Donetsk People’s Republic through active and decisive operations.