Can an actual upgrade be done instead of a re-install?

I think @MXDNS successfully did release upgrade but for a completely different issue.
As per this post IPv6 getting fe80:: prefix - #4 by vele

For example, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will only upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS after the 20.04.1 point release.

This is good for VPS providers that lack a 22 image. In your case is easier to download the 22.04 iso and avoid any problems