Russia speaks of staging
Satellite images show that bodies have been lying in Bucha for weeks
4/5/2022 1:26 am
Russia’s UN ambassador calls the pictures from Bucha a “staged provocation” and plans to present evidence of this soon. A comparison of older satellite images with the videos that have now been released confirms Ukraine’s allegations: the bodies have been lying on the streets since Russian troops took control of the city.
A research of “New York Times” substantiates suspicions that civilians were killed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha when the Kyiv suburb was under Russian occupation. The newspaper compared older satellite images with video footage released over the weekend. At least eleven of the dead that can be seen in the videos were already lying on the streets from March 11th – the day on which Russian soldiers said they had occupied the city. The analyzes showed that they stayed in the same places for more than three weeks, according to the “New York Times”. A body seen in video next to a car had been there since March 20 or 21, according to satellite images.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensja, described the atrocities as a “staged provocation.” This is a “disgusting provocation by the regime in Kyiv,” said Nebensia on Monday at a press conference in New York. The Russian military has not done what it is accused of, it has not committed atrocities against civilians in Ukraine. “It’s not the case, it wasn’t the case and it never will be the case,” he said.
Russia has evidence for all of this, which it will present to the UN Security Council as soon as possible, said Nebensia. Russia had already requested a special session of the UN Security Council for Monday. However, the current British presidency of the Council left it at the scheduled meeting on Tuesday, which Nebensja sharply criticized.
US wants to bring Putin to justice
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply shocked” after videos showing bodies on the streets of Bucha appeared and called for an independent investigation. According to the US Department of Defense, the blame clearly lies with Russia. “I think it is quite obvious – not only to us but to the world – that Russian forces are responsible for the atrocities in Bucha,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The US could not say exactly which units were deployed there, but there is no doubt that the atrocities took place and were an act of Russian forces, Kirby said.
The US, meanwhile, is gathering evidence to bring Russia and President Vladimir Putin before the International Criminal Court or some other court for war crimes. Since Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, any process to hold Russia accountable there could be blocked by the government in Moscow, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
There is still no evidence that the atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha could be classified as genocide. However, the USA had turned to four places to get the evidence for a procedure. This included the information that the United States and friendly countries had, among other things, from secret services, observations by Ukrainians in the country itself, findings from international organizations such as the United Nations, and interviews conducted by independent media worldwide.