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What happened on 25 April 2022 in Ukraine
Summary
A look back at a day of strikes on Ukrainian towns and an oil refinery, a fire in Bryansk, a diplomatic expulsion and the aftermath of a high-level American visit to Kyiv.
What did the war look like on 25 April 2022, two months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine? The reports from that day and the days just before it describe strikes across the country, new pressure on occupied territory and a widening diplomatic rift.
Strikes far from the front
Regional authorities said that five people were killed by airstrikes on Zhmerynka and Koziatyn in Vinnytsia Oblast. In Poltava Oblast, one person was killed after Russia bombed the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery in Kremenchuk.
The day followed others of similar character. On 24 April 2022, Ukrainian authorities said a person had been killed by overnight shelling in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. On 23 April 2022, local authorities said airstrikes on infrastructure in Odesa had killed at least five people, including a baby, and injured 18 others.
Fires inside Russia
On 25 April 2022, two large fires broke out at an oil refinery and a military depot in Bryansk, Russia. They were listed among the April 2022 Belgorod and Bryansk attacks. A day earlier, Russian state media had reported that Ukraine launched rockets into a village in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.
Kherson under occupation
In the occupied south, Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev announced on 25 April 2022 that Russian forces had taken control of the Kherson City Council.
A diplomatic rift with Germany
Russia's foreign ministry expelled 40 German diplomatic staff on 25 April 2022. It described the move as retaliation for Germany's earlier expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats.
Western support and its limits
The previous day, 24 April 2022, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Ukraine and met president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was the highest-level American visit to Kyiv since the invasion began. Zelenskyy was informed of newly approved military assistance for Ukraine.
The limits of Western support also showed. On 24 April 2022, the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs vetoed a German request to re-export Swiss ammunition to Ukraine, citing Switzerland's neutrality.
Claims and denials
Information claims circulated alongside the fighting. On 23 April 2022, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced it was investigating allegations by RIA Novosti that troops from the British SAS had been deployed to Western Ukraine. On 24 April 2022, the Russian embassy in Tehran denied that Iran was a secret armament supplier for the Russian war effort.
Taken together, the reports from 23 to 25 April 2022 show a war that reached well beyond the front lines. Strikes hit towns and industrial sites in several regions, and diplomatic fallout followed in Europe.
