UK shares satellite image showing bodies in Bucha to counter Russia's war crime denial

Bodies were found dumped in mass graves and bonfires after Russian troops withdrew from the city, Ukrainian authorities say

Olia, 53, stands next to destroyed constructions in her courtyard in Bucha on Tuesday. (Photo by Alexey Furman / Getty Images)

Britain has released a satellite image that it claims shows bodies strewn along a street in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, in mid-March, in a bid to invalidate Russia’s denial of atrocities.

The Ministry of Defence shared a photo appearing to show the remains of eight people scattered on a street in the commuter city north-west of Kyiv.

Russian troops occupied the city at the time the image was taken.

After invading forces withdrew from Bucha and other regions around the capital last week, the devastation left in their wake shocked the world and drew international condemnation. Bodies were found dumped in mass graves, including one in the grounds of a church, and half-burnt human remains were discovered in a bonfire site.

Roads were found littered with bodies, dressed in civilian clothing with their hands tied behind their backs, suggesting they had been executed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the evidence emerging from Bucha points to “genocide”, an accusation that the Kremlin has denied. The Russian defence ministry said “not a single civilian” in Bucha faced any unprovoked violent military action and said images of bodies had been “stage-managed by the Kyiv regime for the western media”. The Kyiv government also called on the West to ratchet up sanctions against Moscow.

The UK defence ministry issued an intelligence update on Tuesday evening in a bid to quash Moscow’s denials, which it repeated at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

“Analysis of satellite imagery dated 21 March 2022 shows at least 8 bodies identified lying in a street in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast,” the ministry tweeted. “Bucha was occupied by the Russian armed forces until 31 March 2022.”

The ministry issued a further update on the Ukrainian war on Wednesday morning, saying there was "heavy fighting and Russian air strikes" in the encircled port city of Mariupol.

"The humanitarian situation in the city is worsening," the ministry said. "Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water. Russian forces have prevented humanitarian access, likely to pressure defenders to surrender."

Speaking at the UN meeting, Russia’s envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya disputed the allegations of atrocities in Bucha, and criticised President Zelenskyy. He repeated baseless allegations of Nazism among Kyiv’s leadership.

On Sunday, as international journalists and human right workers poured into Bucha, Sergey Nikiforov, a spokesman for Mr Zelenskyy, condemned the “pure brutality” of the mass graves.

“We found mass graves filled with civilians,” Mr Nikiforov said. “We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up and with bullet holes at the back of their heads.

“They were clearly civilians and they were executed. We found half-burnt bodies as if somebody tried to hide the crimes, but actually they didn’t have enough time to do it properly.”

The UK and the US are pushing for Russia to be removed from the UN Human Rights Council over the Bucha atrocities.

Ukrainian soldiers walk on a street in Bucha after Russian forces withdrew from the city near Kyiv. AP

In an address to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, President Zelenskyy accused Russia of committing the “most terrible war crimes” since the Second World War as he called for trials akin to those held after the defeat of the Nazis.

He said President Vladimir Putin’s forces had created “mass starvation” and shot and raped civilians and called for those responsible to be “brought to justice” in a tribunal similar to the Nuremberg trials.

He warned the world is yet to see the acts committed by the Kremlin’s troops in other regions, which remain under Russian control.

“Today, as a result of Russia’s actions in our country, in Ukraine, the most terrible war crimes we’ve seen since the end of the Second World War are being committed,” he said in the online address.

“Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities to ashes with artillery and air strikes. They are deliberately blocking cities, creating mass starvation. They deliberately shoot columns of civilians on the road trying to escape from the hostilities.

“They even deliberately blow up shelters where civilians hide from air strikes.

“The massacre in our city of Bucha is unfortunately only one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing on our land for the past 41 days.”

Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the latest in the continuing Russia-Ukraine war. AFP

People take part in a protest against the transport of cargo to Russia and Belarus near the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn, eastern Poland. EPA

A Ukrainian naval vessel, thought to be the ‘Donbas’ and a nearby building burn in the besieged city of Mariupol. AP

Bucha resident Tetiana Ustymenko weeps over the grave of her son, buried in the garden of her house, in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv. AFP

People charge their mobile phones in a public building in Bucha. AFP

People from Mariupol leave a train to be taken to temporary residences in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. AP

Vladyslava Liubarets, a Bucha resident, cries as she hugs her sister whom she had not seen since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army. EPA

Local citizen Oleksandr, 55, looks at the grave of his neighbour in the backyard of his private house in Hostomel in Kyiv. EPA

Debris of a rocket missile on the field near Kyiv. EPA

The mother of Ukrainian soldier Lubomyr Hudzeliak, who was killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mourns during his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP

A woman takes care of a baby at a shelter in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region. AFP

Residents gather outside a shelter in the city of Severodonetsk. AFP

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A young girl with her dog arrives at a centre for the displaced in Zaporizhzhia, north-west of Mariupol. AFP

A damaged ambulance in Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters

A bomb crater left behind by Russia's attack on the Ukrainian village of Demydiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters

Russian attacks have reduced Hotel Ukraine in Chernihiv to debris. Reuters

Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, near his burnt house in the village of Sloboda, on the outskirts of Chernihiv. Reuters

Residents walk past destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, north-west of Kyiv. EPA

Damaged National flags flutter in the wind on a cemetry of Chernihiv city which was blocked by Russian troops for a long time. EPA

Demonstrators lie down on the ground in tribute to the people killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany. AP

A Ukrainian firefighter works at the site of a burning fuel storage facility ignited by an air strike, in Dnipropetrovsk. Reuters

A woman before and after she was removed by rescuers from debris after a military strike on the town of Rubizhne, Luhansk. Reuters

People wait for help to evacuate Derhachi. Reuters

Pope Francis, in Vatican, holds a Ukrainian flag given to him by a delegation from the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies had been found. EPA

State emergency servicemen clear shells near Chernigiv, northern Ukraine. AFP

US war veteran Steven Straub shows his tattoo of the Ukrainian flag while on patrol near Buda-Babynetska, north of Kyiv, days after Russian forces retreated from the area. AFP

Candles are arranged in the shape of Ukraine by the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in the western city Lviv. AFP

A teddy bear hangs from a tree branch outside an apartment building in Borodyanka, Kyiv oblast. AP

A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka. Reuters

Dmitriy Evtushkov, 25, points to his picture in a primary school album retrieved from the rubble of a block of flats. AP

Technicians try to fix the internet in Bucha. AP

A smashed mobile phone lies next to a Russian army ration book in Bucha. AP

A woman and children after their arrival at a centre for displaced persons in Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometres north-west of Mariupol. AFP

A man leaves a damaged pharmacy after a bombing that killed several civilians, in Mykolaiv. AP

Ukrainian soldiers sing a patriotic song with buildings in the background that were destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka. AP

Borodyanka residents carry humanitarian aid packages. Reuters

Elderly Ukrainians shelter in a basement in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. EPA

Destroyed apartment buildings in Borodyanka. Reuters

Relatives and friends are overwhelmed with emotions as they stand next to the coffin of Anatoly German during his funeral. AP