Russia Claims Bucha Bodies Are a Hoax. Satellite Images Say Otherwise

Russia insisted it was not responsible for the horror in Bucha, where bodies of civilians, some of them bound, have been seen lying in the streets. The images came out after Russian troops pulled back, and Russia's Ministry of Defense suggested in a Telegram post Sunday that after "all Russian units withdrew completely from Bucha" around March 30, the bodies were placed there as "another hoax" to "[provoke] Ukrainian radicals." But an analysis of videos and satellite images by the New York Times finds that many of the bodies had been on the streets since weeks ago, when Russia still occupied the town.

The analysis of one area found objects sized similarly to a human body appearing between March 9 and 11, in the same positions the bodies were found after Ukrainian forces reclaimed Bucha, and that they stayed in those positions for more than three weeks. In another area, the analysis found bodies that appeared on the streets between March 20 and 21. A Fox News analysis came to similar conclusions. And the BBC also analyzed various Russian claims of the Bucha killings being a hoax and found them not credible; Russian claims of bodies moving, for example, are found to actually be images of bodies being distorted by car mirrors or marks on car windows. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)