This timeline of the Russo-Ukrainian war covers the period from 8 April 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of Ukraine, to 28 August 2022, the day before Ukraine announced the start of its Kherson counteroffensive.
April 2022
8 April
A train station in Kramatorsk was hit by a Russian rocket strike, killing at least 57 people and wounding 109 others. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Oblast, said thousands of people had been at the station at the time the two rockets struck. The Russian Ministry of Defence denied responsibility for the attack.
As the European Council adopted a fifth package of restrictive measures against Russia, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The two visited Bucha's mass graves, where President von der Leyen told reporters that "the unthinkable" had happened there. Later that day the two held a press conference where von der Leyen handed over to Zelenskyy a questionnaire for joining the EU. She was accompanied by Josep Borrell, who expressed "confidence that EU states would soon agree to his proposal to provide Ukraine with an additional €500 million to support the armed forces in their fight against the Russian army."
A Russian defence ministry spokesperson said high-precision missiles of the Bastion coastal missile system destroyed a foreign mercenary assembly and training centre near the village of northeast of Odesa. However, this could not be verified.
9 April Russian president Vladimir Putin appointed Army General Aleksandr Dvornikov, commander of the Southern Military District, as commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. Dvornikov had previously commanded Russian forces during the Russian military intervention in Syria.
Russian forces hit a storage tank containing nitric acid in Rubizhne, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk Oblast. He added that the tank contained about three tons of acid.
New graves with dozens of Ukrainian civilians were found in Buzova, a liberated village near Kyiv that for weeks had been occupied by Russian forces.
The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Zelenskyy in Kyiv, offering armored vehicles, anti-ship missile systems, and promising loans and an easing of tariffs.
10 April Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of Dnipro's military administration, said that Dnipro Airport and its surrounding infrastructure was completely destroyed by Russian shelling.
11 April The Russian Defence Minister stated that high-precision sea-based Kalibr missiles on the southern outskirts of Dnipro destroyed equipment from a S-300 anti-aircraft missile division supplied to Ukraine by a European country, which was hidden in a hangar. Four S-300 launchers and up to 25 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel were also hit. The Government of Slovakia, having previously confirmed a donation of its S-300 air defence system to Ukraine, denied Russian claims.
Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer met with Putin in Moscow, the first visit from a Western leader since the invasion began. He said the conversation with Putin was "very direct, open and tough" and that the meeting with Putin was "not a friendly visit".
The Ukrainian Catholic relief organisation Caritas-Spes announced that two of its workers and five other people were killed in a Russian attack on its Mariupol office.
12 April In a Telegram statement, the Azov battalion stated that Russian forces dropped "a poisonous substance of unknown origin" from an unmanned aerial vehicle onto Ukrainian military and civilians in the besieged port city of Mariupol. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said that city officials were awaiting additional information from military forces, and speculated that in one possible scenario, the "discharge of an unknown chemical" could be "a test".
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that high-precision air-based and sea-based missiles destroyed one ammunition depot and a secure hangar containing aircraft at Starokostiantyniv Air Base in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, as well as one ammunition depot near Gavrilovka near Kyiv.
13 April
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, surrendered in Mariupol. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said it had no information about this, but Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov Regiment, later confirmed that some defenders had surrendered.
Ukraine claimed that the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles and set on fire. The Moskva later suffered a munition explosion due to the fires. The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that the warship had suffered serious damage and that all its crew had been evacuated but it remained afloat, which the Pentagon confirmed. Russia claimed the damage was due to an accidental fire, and measures were being taken to tow the ship back to port. It subsequently sank.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Russia would see U.S. and NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukrainian territory as legitimate military targets. He added that any attempts by the West to inflict significant damage on Russia's military or its separatist allies in Ukraine would be "harshly suppressed".
Ivan Ariefiev, the military administration spokesperson of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, said that Russian forces attacked Novodanylivka village with phosphorus bombs.
14 April
Russia claimed two heavily armed Ukrainian combat helicopters conducted at least six airstrikes on residential buildings in Bryansk Oblast. The governor of Belgorod Oblast said that a village there was also attacked, but that no one was injured.
Russian authorities accused Ukraine of shelling the town of Klimovo and the village of Spodorashino. Additionally, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that Ukrainian soldiers opened fire at the Novye Yurkovichi border checkpoint in Bryansk Oblast.
Russia's Ministry of Defence stated that the Russian cruiser Moskva, which Ukraine said it had hit the previous day, had sunk in the Black Sea while being towed to port.
15 April The Russian Defence Ministry stated that its S-400 defense systems had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter allegedly used to attack Klimovo. It also said that the Illich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol had been taken by Russian forces and claimed that its strategic rocket forces had "eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries" in a strike on the village of Iziumske.
Ukrainian forces regained control of Rohan in Kharkiv Oblast.
16 April Russia said that it had destroyed production buildings of an armoured vehicle plant in Kyiv and a military repair facility in Mykolaiv using high-precision air-launched long-range weapons. It also claimed to have downed a Ukrainian Su-25 jet near Izium.
Russian officials said that Major general Vladimir Frolov was killed in combat in Ukraine. Russian officials also stated that there had been 23,677 deaths of Ukrainian military personnel so far. This was the first time that Russian officials had made public claims regarding this death toll.
17 April Russia claimed to have destroyed an ammunitions factory near Brovary in Kyiv Oblast using high-precision, air-launched missiles.
18 April
Putin bestowed an honorary title on the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade accused by Ukraine and by the international community of committing war crimes in Bucha, giving them the title of Guards for their defense of the "motherland and state interests" and praising the "mass heroism and valor, tenacity, and courage" [sic] of its members.
Lviv was hit by five missiles according to Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyy. Three of the missiles damaged military infrastructure installations and one hit a tyre shop, causing several civilian deaths.
President Zelenskyy announced that Russia had begun an offensive in the Donbas.
19 April
Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk Oblast, said that Russian forces had seized the city of Kreminna. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "another phase" of the invasion had begun.
20 April The Russian Defence Ministry said that its forces had hit 1,053 Ukrainian military facilities overnight and destroyed 106 firing positions.
Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a hospital sheltering 300 people in Mariupol.
21 April Putin declared victory in Mariupol in spite of remaining Ukrainian holdouts at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. In a televised meeting, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu said that it would take three or four days to clear the plant; however, Putin said that such an operation would be "impractical" and ordered a blockade of the plant instead. Prime Ministers Pedro Sánchez of Spain and Mette Frederiksen of Denmark visited Ukraine to meet with Zelenskyy.
22 April Major General Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia's Central Military District, admitted that the aim of the "second phase" of the country's invasion of Ukraine was to fully seize Donbas and Southern Ukraine, and to establish a land corridor with Transnistria, a Russian-occupied breakaway republic which is internationally recognized as being part of Moldova. He added that there was "evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed" in Transnistria, without providing further detail into his accusations. The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine criticized this and accused Russia of imperialism.
A Ukrainian Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, killing the pilot and injuring two other people. The administration said initial information indicated the plane hit an electricity pole, but some Russian reporters suggested in social media posts that Ukrainian forces had accidentally downed the plane with MANPADS.
Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Russia had taken control of 42 small towns and villages in eastern Ukraine.
23 April The Ukrainian military hit a Russian command post near Kherson, allegedly killing two Russian generals and wounding one.
A Russian missile strike hit Odesa. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Interior Ministry, said that at least one missile had landed and exploded, and residential buildings were hit. Officials said at least six people had died.
24 April
The Russian Defence Ministry stated that its high-precision missiles struck nine Ukrainian military targets overnight, including four arms depots near Kharkiv where artillery weapons were stored. It also said that its missile and artillery forces destroyed four more depots in the area, and hit a facility producing explosives for the Ukrainian army near Dnipropetrovsk.
Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces conducted airstrikes on the besieged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works to try to dislodge the Ukrainian troops inside.
25 April
Russia stated that it struck Ukrainian military installations and the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery near the Dnipro River. The Russian Defence Ministry said that high-precision long-range weapons destroyed six railway stations near Krasnoe, Zdolbuniv, Zhmerynka, Berdychiv, Kovel, and Korosten, through which foreign weapons and military equipment were supplied to the Ukrainian troops in Donbas. Russia announced a ceasefire around the steelworks to allow civilians to leave, but a senior Russian diplomat declared that "a general ceasefire is not a good option at the moment, because it will give Ukrainian forces the chance to regroup and to stage more provocations". However, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister said that no agreement on a corridor had been reached for the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant.