Butscha’s pictures shock the world. After the Russian occupiers withdrew from the city north of Kyiv, many dead bodies of civilians lie on the street. Some of them are tied up and have been shot in the head. A mass grave is also discovered. There is talk of a total of at least 300 dead. The West accuses Russia of war crimes, the Ukrainian and international authorities are collecting evidence.
The Russian side sharply denied the allegations on Sunday, claiming without any evidence that the people were only killed after the Russian troops withdrew on March 30, when the Ukrainian security forces were in charge of Bucha.
Satellite images reveal Russian claims
However, satellite images now clearly show that many bodies were lying on the streets in Bucha several weeks ago – long before the Russian troops withdrew. This was the result of an analysis by the New York Times. The satellite photo of Jablonska Street in Bucha in the image below on the right is from March 19. It shows human-sized objects lying in the exact same place and position as corpses in a video posted to social media by a local official on April 1 .
Legend:
On the right a satellite image of Jablonska Street on March 19, on the left a recording from a video from social media on April 1. Both photos show bodies in the exact same places and positions.
©2022 Maxar Technologies / Processing: New York Times
Security expert Michael Haas looked at the images for SRF. He did research at ETH Zurich until the end of the year and is now an independent security expert specializing in the analysis of satellite images in war and conflict zones. It is also clear to him: “You can see here that the Russian narrative does not match the time information that we can read from the satellite images.”
The Russian narrative does not tally with the dates we can read from the satellite imagery.
In principle, remote sensing by satellites is a very exact science. It is crucial that there is an accurate time stamp. “Thanks to the metadata, we can understand exactly when and from what position the picture was taken.” Haas considers manipulation to be almost impossible here: “It is very difficult to manipulate this metadata so credibly that it does not blow up.” The damage to the image of commercial providers would also be very great if manipulations were discovered.
Presumed mass grave already visible on March 10th
Overall, for Haas, the satellite images from last week show an overwhelming burden of proof “that rules of international law of war were not observed, that requirements such as proportionality or the avoidance of unnecessary suffering of the civilian population played no role in this Russian military operations.”
Satellite photos remain just one piece of evidence among many
Nevertheless, it is clear that satellite photos must always be critically examined and questioned. Because: “Of course, one should not have any illusions: the more satellite images play a role in the public debate, the more attempts will be made to create a narrative by manipulating publicly accessible images.”
For Haas, however, satellite images remain just one piece of evidence among many for proving war crimes in front of a court. “You have to combine that with classic investigative work. So with the evaluation of pictures that were taken on the ground, with reliable interviews and witness statements. »
You can see more on the subject tonight at 7:30 pm in the “Tagesschau” on SRF 1.