Satellite images show bodies in Bucha for weeks, disproving Moscow’s claim
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Washington (AFP) – Satellite photographs released on Monday appear to refute Russian claims that corpses in civilian clothes found in Bucha appeared there after Russian forces withdrew from the devastated Ukrainian town.
Satellite imagery from mid-March of a street in Bucha appears to show several bodies of civilians lying dead on or just next to the roadway where Ukrainian officials recently said they found several corpses after Russian troops withdrew.
“High-resolution Maxar satellite images collected over Bucha, Ukraine (northwest of Kyiv) verify and corroborate recent social media videos and photos that reveal bodies lying in the streets and left out in the open. for weeks,” said Maxar Technologies spokesman Stephen Wood. in a report.
The New York Times published an analysis of close-ups of Bucha’s Yablonska Street and concluded – after comparing it with video footage from April 1 and 2 of dead bodies along the street – that many had been there for at least three weeks. , when Russian forces controlled the city.
AFP photographers entered Bucha, northwest of kyiv, on Saturday and directly confirmed the presence of around 20 bodies, all in civilian clothes, some with their hands tied, in scenes that sparked revulsion world and charges of war crimes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied responsibility, saying all its units ‘completely withdrew from Bucha as early as March 30’, while the Kremlin dismissed graphic images emerging from the city as concocted ‘fakes’. ‘Ukraine.
That claim was repeated at the United Nations on Monday, where Moscow envoy Vassily Nebenzia reiterated at a press conference that the corpses pictured in Bucha were not there before Russian troops left the city.
“Suddenly they appear in the streets lying on the road, one by one, left and right, some of them are moving, some of them are showing signs of life,” he said, claiming that the scenes had been “arranged by the Ukrainian information, information war machine.”
But Maxar satellite images dated March 19 and March 21 show that several bodies were in Bucha’s Yablonska Street at the time.
And according to the Times’ analysis, Maxar’s images show dark objects similar in size to human bodies appearing on the street between March 9 and March 11.
Many of the bodies depicted in the satellite images appeared in the precise position on the ground, as seen in video footage of the same street filmed by a Ukrainian local council member and international media photographs.
In a second side-by-side comparison, The Times studied a video posted to Instagram of a body on the street in front of two cars. A satellite image from March 21 shows the corpse and vehicles in the same location.
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