For decades, titanium has been a cornerstone of aerospace, defense, and high-tech manufacturing — prized for its strength, lightness, and resistance to corrosion Yet behind this strategic metal lies a highly concentrated global industry, where only a handful of nations control production of titanium sponge, the raw metallic form of the element
Among them, Ukraine once stood as a global leader, the industrial backbone of the Soviet titanium complex and one of the few countries that mastered the Kroll process — the key technology for sponge production Ukraine uniquely combined chemical, metallurgical, and scientific expertise, hosting its own Institute of Titanium and advanced hydrometallurgical facilities capable of extracting not only titanium but also zirconium and hafnium
Today, that legacy stands disrupted The Russian invasion has fractured Ukraine’s heavy industry and halted sponge production since 2021
