What did 7 April 2022 reveal about the war?

What did the war look like on 7 April 2022, the forty-third day after Russia's invasion began? The reports from that date and the days just before it show pressure on Russia mounting abroad, while fears of fresh attacks grew inside Ukraine.

Isolation at the UN and in Washington

On 7 April 2022, the emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. The tally was 93 in favour, 24 against and 58 abstentions. Russia became the second country to be suspended from the council, after Libya in 2011.

The same day, the US House of Representatives voted 420–3 to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. The Senate then passed the legislation 100–0, sending it to President Joe Biden for approval. A day earlier, on 6 April, the Senate had unanimously approved a separate law authorising Biden to use the lend-lease programme, last employed in the Second World War, to speed up deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine.

The lopsided votes matter as a measure of the political mood in Washington. The General Assembly result was less uniform: dozens of states abstained or voted against.

Legal pressure

Also on 7 April 2022, former German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and former Interior Minister Gerhart Baum filed a complaint with German federal prosecutors. It accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin, all 32 members of the Security Council of Russia, and members of the Russian Armed Forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

On 6 April, Pope Francis had condemned the massacre in Bucha during his weekly audience at the Vatican, urging an end to the war and calling for the weapons to fall silent.

The front in the east

The reports from the east were grim. The governor of Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, said that all hospitals in the province had been completely destroyed by the Russian Armed Forces. Russia denied the claim and accused Ukraine of destroying its own hospitals.

On 6 April, Russian forces shelled Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk Oblast, setting ten high-rise buildings on fire. Four civilians were reported killed by the Russian military in Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast.

Further west, Dnipro's mayor, Borys Filatov, asked all women, children and elderly people to leave the city in preparation for a possible Russian attack. The request showed that a city far from the immediate front was bracing for the war to reach it.

Talks and conditions

On the diplomatic track, Russia said on 6 April that it would end its invasion if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted conditions set out during negotiations. The main one was a legal guarantee that Ukraine would not join NATO, written into the Ukrainian constitution. Russia also said it had suspended operations in Kyiv as a goodwill gesture to promote peace talks.

On 7 April, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk should be included in negotiations aimed at ending the war.

The economic picture

The Russian ruble rose above its pre-war level on 7 April, after falling as low as 150 rubles per US dollar in early March. Set beside the new US trade legislation and the UN vote, the day offered contrasting signals: financial markets had steadied for Russia even as its political and diplomatic standing came under pressure.

What the day showed

The reports from 7 April 2022 point in several directions at once. Russia faced formal censure and a move toward ending normal trade relations. It also set out terms for ending the war and said it had paused operations around Kyiv. In Ukraine, officials in Luhansk and Dnipro were describing destruction and preparing residents for more.