The “high-resolution” images “confirm recent videos and photos on social media showing bodies that have been lying in the streets for weeks,” a spokesman for US satellite imaging company Maxar Technologies said.
In mid-March, satellite imagery of a street in Bucha showed several bodies of suspected civilians lying on or near the road. Several bodies were found here by Ukrainian officials after Russian troops withdrew in early April. AFP photographers saw around 20 bodies in civilian clothes during a visit last Saturday – some with their hands tied.
Russia wants to present evidence
The Russian Ministry of Defense had described the images as “fake”. Russia’s UN Ambassador Wassili Nebensja spoke of “staged provocation”. Accordingly, the bodies were not there when the Russian forces withdrew on March 30. However, Maxar satellite images from March 19 and 21 show that already at that time there were several bodies on Yablonska Street in Bucha.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that his country intends to present “documents” at a press conference at 9:30 p.m. CEST at the UN headquarters in New York, which should show the “true nature” of the events in Bucha.
Bodies had lain on the streets for weeks
The New York Times compared the satellite images with various images taken by Ukrainian officials and international media and confirmed that some of the bodies had been in the position shown weeks before the Russian withdrawal.
The images of the bodies of suspected civilians had caused international consternation. Numerous Western heads of government had accused Moscow of war crimes. Germany and France expelled dozens of Russian diplomats on Monday.
- War in Ukraine: The latest developments in the live blog
what is known so far
Bucha is a commuter town in the northwest of Kyiv with around 37,000 inhabitants. Right at the beginning of the war on February 24th Bucha as well as the neighboring town of Irpin, was attacked and became the scene of heavy fighting. On February 26, Russian troops occupied the city and sealed it off from the outside world for more than a month. The shelling ended on Thursday and the Ukrainian army regained control over the past few days Bucha.
Those who remained in the city had to endure weeks without electricity and water in freezing temperatures. Witnesses told the AFP news agency that Chechen fighters were among the occupiers. AFP journalists saw huge holes ripped through by shells in apartment blocks over the weekend. The streets were littered with debris, numerous wrecked cars lay around as well as downed power lines.
corpses in the streets
AFP reporters on Saturday counted the bodies of at least 22 people in civilian clothes on a single street in Bucha. One of them was lying on the sidewalk next to a bicycle, others had bags with provisions. One dead had his hands tied behind his back. Another victim lay dead under a blanket near the train station.
At least two of those killed had large head wounds. The bodies’ faces looked waxen, indicating they had been lying there for several days. The Russian soldiers killed the civilians with a “shot in the neck,” said the mayor of BuchaAnatoly Fedoruk.
Video: Peter Fritz comments on the accusation against Russia of having committed war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population in Bucha.
mass graves
The bodies of 57 people were found in a mass grave, the head of the local emergency services, Serhiy Kaplychny, said when showing the pit to AFP. The mass grave is behind a church in the center of Bucha. Some of the dead in it could still be seen in full, others were only partially buried. All wore civilian clothes.
According to Mayor Fedoruk, a total of 280 people were buried in mass graves because the cemeteries were shelled. “We found mass graves. We found people with their hands and legs tied, with bullet holes in the back of their heads,” Presidential spokesman Sergei Nikiforov told the BBC on Sunday.
The exact number of victims is still unknown. “We believe that more than 300 civilians died,” said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Sunday during his visit to Kyiv Bucha. “This is not a war, this is a genocide, a genocide against the Ukrainian population.”
Video: Former Vice-President at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) Cuno Tarfusser speaks about the events in Butscha.
Source: Nachrichten
