connecting to a remote server using openvpn in a github actions workflow

This is my CI workflow in Github Actions:

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  docker-build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install Poetry
        uses: snok/install-poetry@v1

      - name: create requirements
        run: poetry export --without-hashes --format=requirements.txt > requirements.txt

      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v2
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD }}
          
      - name: Build and push image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v3
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_NAME }}/${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_REPOSITORY }}
        
      - name: Deploy to Staging
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.10
        env: 
          OVPN_CONFIG: ${{ secrets.VPN_CONFIG }}
          VPN_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.VPN_USERNAME }}
          VPN_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.VPN_PASSWORD }}
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.STAGING_SERVER_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.STAGING_SERVER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.STAGING_SERVER_PASSWORD }}   
          envs: OVPN_CONFIG,VPN_USERNAME,VPN_PASSWORD
          script: |
            echo "${OVPN_CONFIG}" > vpn-config.ovpn
            echo "${VPN_USERNAME}" > vpn-credentials.txt
            echo "${VPN_PASSWORD}" >> vpn-credentials.txt
      
            openvpn --config vpn-config.ovpn --auth-user-pass vpn-credentials.txt
            sleep 5

            ls -la

            docker pull ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_NAME }}/${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_REPOSITORY }}:latest
            docker run -d ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_NAME }}/${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_REPOSITORY }}:latest
      
            # Cleanup: Delete the temporary VPN credentials file
            rm vpn-credentials.txt

The workflow is intended to build a Docker image and upload it to Docker Hub after every push to the main branch, which is working correctly.
After that i want to connect to the server that's supposed to host the app using SSH but in order to do that I have to establish a VPN connection using OpenVPN. This is what's giving me trouble because the connection doesn't seem to get established.
Am i doing something wrong here?
Here's some of the worklow logs:

***[command]/usr/bin/docker run --name ed866e71fb8133109f4ad988af16a3b2ab46f2_a1dfd1 --label ed866e --workdir /github/workspace --rm -e "VENV" -e "OVPN_CONFIG" -e "VPN_USERNAME" -e "VPN_PASSWORD" -e "INPUT_HOST" -e "INPUT_USERNAME" -e "INPUT_PASSWORD" -e "INPUT_ENVS" -e "INPUT_SCRIPT" -e "INPUT_PORT" -e "INPUT_PASSPHRASE" -e "INPUT_SYNC" -e "INPUT_USE_INSECURE_CIPHER" -e "INPUT_CIPHER" -e "INPUT_TIMEOUT" -e "INPUT_COMMAND_TIMEOUT" -e "INPUT_KEY" -e "INPUT_KEY_PATH" -e "INPUT_FINGERPRINT" -e "INPUT_PROXY_HOST" -e "INPUT_PROXY_PORT" -e "INPUT_PROXY_USERNAME" -e "INPUT_PROXY_PASSWORD" -e "INPUT_PROXY_PASSPHRASE" -e "INPUT_PROXY_TIMEOUT" -e "INPUT_PROXY_KEY" -e "INPUT_PROXY_KEY_PATH" -e "INPUT_PROXY_FINGERPRINT" -e "INPUT_PROXY_CIPHER" -e "INPUT_PROXY_USE_INSECURE_CIPHER" -e "INPUT_SCRIPT_STOP" -e "INPUT_ENVS_FORMAT" -e "INPUT_DEBUG" -e "HOME" -e "GITHUB_JOB" -e "GITHUB_REF" -e "GITHUB_SHA" -e "GITHUB_REPOSITORY" -e "GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER" -e "GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER_ID" -e "GITHUB_RUN_ID" -e "GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER" -e "GITHUB_RETENTION_DAYS" -e "GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT" -e "GITHUB_REPOSITORY_ID" -e "GITHUB_ACTOR_ID" -e "GITHUB_ACTOR" -e "GITHUB_TRIGGERING_ACTOR" -e "GITHUB_WORKFLOW" -e "GITHUB_HEAD_REF" -e "GITHUB_BASE_REF" -e "GITHUB_EVENT_NAME" -e "GITHUB_SERVER_URL" -e "GITHUB_API_URL" -e "GITHUB_GRAPHQL_URL" -e "GITHUB_REF_NAME" -e "GITHUB_REF_PROTECTED" -e "GITHUB_REF_TYPE" -e "GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF" -e "GITHUB_WORKFLOW_SHA" -e "GITHUB_WORKSPACE" -e "GITHUB_ACTION" -e "GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" -e "GITHUB_ACTION_REPOSITORY" -e "GITHUB_ACTION_REF" -e "GITHUB_PATH" -e "GITHUB_ENV" -e "GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY" -e "GITHUB_STATE" -e "GITHUB_OUTPUT" -e "RUNNER_OS" -e "RUNNER_ARCH" -e "RUNNER_NAME" -e "RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE" -e "RUNNER_TEMP" -e "RUNNER_WORKSPACE" -e "ACTIONS_RUNTIME_URL" -e "ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN" -e "ACTIONS_CACHE_URL" -e GITHUB_ACTIONS=true -e CI=true -v "/var/run/docker.sock":"/var/run/docker.sock" -v "/home/runner/work/_temp/_github_home":"/github/home" -v "/home/runner/work/_temp/_github_workflow":"/github/workflow" -v "/home/runner/work/_temp/_runner_file_commands":"/github/file_commands" -v "/home/runner/work/***/***":"/github/workspace" ed866e:71fb8133109f4ad988af16a3b2ab46f2
======CMD======
echo "${OVPN_CONFIG}" > vpn-config.ovpn
echo "${VPN_USERNAME}" > vpn-credentials.txt
echo "${VPN_PASSWORD}" >> vpn-credentials.txt

openvpn --config vpn-config.ovpn --*** vpn-credentials.txt
sleep 5

ls -la

*** docker pull ***/***:latest
*** docker run -d --name meteor-bot ***/***:latest

*** Cleanup: Delete the temporary VPN credentials file
rm vpn-credentials.txt
======END======
2023/06/15 17:14:46 dial tcp ***:22: i/o timeout

Here is an example using a separated OpenVPN action:

name: OpenVPN

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Install OpenVPN
        run: |
          sudo apt update
          sudo apt install -y openvpn openvpn-systemd-resolved
          
      - name: Setup VPN config
        run: |
          echo "${{ secrets.OVPN_CA }}" > ca.crt
          echo "${{ secrets.OVPN_CERT }}" > user.crt
          
      - name: Connect to VPN
        uses: "kota65535/github-openvpn-connect-action@v2"
        with:
          config_file: .github/workflows/ovpn/client.ovpn
          username: ${{ secrets.OVPN_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.OVPN_PASSWORD }}
          client_key: ${{ secrets.OVPN_USER_KEY }}

      - name: multiple command
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.10
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.SSH_RELAY }}
          username: ${{ secrets.SSH_RELAY_USER }}
          password: ${{ secrets.SSH_RELAY_PWD }}
          port: ${{ secrets.SSH_RELAY_PORT }}
          script: |
            whoami
            ls -al

      - name: Kill VPN connection
        if: always()
        run: |
          sudo killall openvpn          

Turns out I needed to actually establish the VPN connection before attempting SSH not use it as part of the script inside the SSH so I just added this step:

      - name: Establish VPN connection
        run: |
            sudo apt update
            sudo apt install -y openvpn openvpn-systemd-resolved
            echo "${{ secrets.VPN_CONFIG }}" > vpn-config.ovpn
            echo "${{ secrets.VPN_USERNAME }}" > vpn-credentials.txt
            echo "${{ secrets.VPN_PASSWORD }}" >> vpn-credentials.txt
            sudo openvpn --config vpn-config.ovpn --auth-user-pass vpn-credentials.txt --daemon
            sleep 15