What did 22 April 2022 reveal about Russia's war aims?

What did Russia's war look like on 22 April 2022, and where did it appear to be heading? That day brought a public statement of wider territorial goals, another failed attempt to move civilians out of danger, and a treason case inside Ukraine.

A stated aim in the south

Russian Major General Rustam Minnekayev said on 22 April 2022 that the goal of the military operation was now to seize territory in Southern Ukraine, creating a land corridor from Crimea to Ukraine's border with Transnistria. Transnistria is a pro-Russian unrecognised breakaway state, internationally recognised as part of Moldova. The statement placed a neighbouring country's border region within the stated horizon of the operation.

Evacuations blocked

On the ground, civilians remained trapped. Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, reported that Russian shelling disrupted an attempt to evacuate residents from Rubizhne, where heavy fighting was under way, preventing a bus from reaching the city. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said no evacuation corridors were open through Russian-controlled territory because of danger on the routes.

Ukraine also said it would not allow residents to leave Mariupol on that day, citing concerns that the route was too dangerous.

Diplomatic pressure followed. European Council President Charles Michel and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, strongly urged immediate and safe humanitarian passage out of Mariupol and other besieged cities during a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mariupol and Azovstal

The previous day, 21 April 2022, Putin had told his troops not to storm the Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol, calling the plan impractical and ordering a blockade of the area instead. On 20 April, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak had said Ukraine was ready to hold a special round of negotiations in Mariupol to save the Azov battalion, military personnel, civilians, children and the wounded. A blockade rather than an assault left the question of those sheltering in the area unresolved on 22 April.

Treason charge in Kharkiv Oblast

Ukrainian authorities charged the mayor of Balakliia, in Kharkiv Oblast, with treason for accepting aid from Russian occupation forces. The mayor was believed to have fled to Russia with his family.

The wider picture

On 20 April, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych claimed Ukraine was blocking an attempted Russian advance on Sloviansk. The same day the Pentagon announced that Ukraine had received fighter aircraft and aircraft parts to bolster its air force, without disclosing the number or origin of the aircraft.

Taken together, the reports from 22 April 2022 describe a conflict in which Russia spoke of broader goals in the south while the immediate fight centred on the east and on besieged cities, where the practical question was whether civilians could get out at all.