What did 28 April 2022 reveal about the war's widening pressures?
Sanctions, trade measures, warnings from Moscow and a banker's defection shaped the political picture in the days around 28 April 2022.
What was the political landscape on 28 April 2022, the 64th day of Russia's full-scale invasion? Reports from 26 and 27 April, the days immediately before, point to pressure building on several fronts: diplomatic, economic and regional.
Moscow's warnings and diplomacy
On 26 April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that weapons supplied to Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia's military, and that storage facilities in western Ukraine had been targeted. He also said that NATO was, in essence, engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and was arming that proxy. The same day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for a ceasefire beforehand.
On 27 April, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said that Russian threats to target Britain were unlawful and were adding to the pariah status of Vladimir Putin's regime. Russia also imposed sanctions on 287 members of the House of Commons, in response to sanctions on members of its State Duma. Senior cabinet ministers and the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, were among them.
Trade support from Brussels
On 27 April, the European Commission proposed lifting, for one year, all tariffs on Ukrainian produce not covered by the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, while easing trade conditions for other goods. The temporary suspension needed approval from the European Parliament and the member states. The proposal was a concrete economic measure alongside the military and diplomatic exchanges.
Regional spillover
Moldova's Supreme Security Council convened an emergency meeting on 26 April after attacks in the breakaway region of Transnistria the previous day. President Maia Sandu said the attacks aimed at destabilising the situation in the region. She added that the military would improve combat readiness and increase patrols on the border with Transnistria.
A defection from inside Russia
On 27 April, Ihor Volobuev, a vice-president of Russia's Gazprombank, left his post and Russia in protest at the war. He said he planned to join Kyiv's territorial defence. He described himself as Ukrainian by nationality, born in Okhtyrka, and said he could no longer watch from the sidelines what Russia was doing to his homeland.
What it added up to
Taken together, the reports from these days show a conflict in which rhetoric from Moscow was escalating, Western governments and Russia were trading sanctions, the European Union was moving to ease trade for Ukraine, and neighbouring Moldova was raising its security readiness. Diplomatic contact, in the form of the Guterres visit, continued alongside all of this.
