Satellite imagery shows bodies left out in the open in Bucha for weeks

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of destroyed houses and vehicles in a street in Bucha, Ukraine on Thursday March 31, 2022. Picture: Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP

High-resolution satellite imagery has shown bodies have been lying in the open for weeks in the Ukraine city of Bucha, as Russia denied it had committed war crimes.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, insisted at a news conference that during the time that Bucha was under Russian control “not a single local person has suffered from any violent action”.

But satellite imagery from commercial provider Maxar Technologies, first reported by The New York Times, proved the bodies had been there for weeks.

Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes before, and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has already opened an investigation. But the latest reports ratcheted up the condemnation.

High-resolution satellite imagery has shown bodies have been lying in the open for weeks in the Ukraine city of Bucha, as Russia denied it had committed war crimes (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

US President Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial against Russia leader Vladimir Putin and said he will seek more sanctions after the reported atrocities in Ukraine.

“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Mr Biden said, describing Mr Putin as a “war criminal”.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said photographs from Bucha reveal the “unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda”.

French president Emmanuel Macron said there is “clear evidence of war crimes” in Bucha that demand new punitive measures.

“I’m in favor of a new round of sanctions and in particular on coal and gasoline. We need to act,” Mr Macron said on France-Inter radio.

Mariupol has seen some of the worst suffering of the invasion (Alexei Alexandrov/AP)

Though united in outrage, the European allies appeared split on how to respond. While Poland urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy, Germany said it would stick with a gradual approach of phasing out coal and oil imports over the next several months.

Russia had withdrawn many of its forces from the capital area after being thwarted in its bid to swiftly capture Kyiv.

It has instead poured troops and mercenaries into the country’s east in a stepped-up bid to gain control of the Donbas, the largely Russian-speaking industrial region that includes the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting and worst suffering of the war.

About two-thirds of the Russian troops around Kyiv have left and are either in Belarus or on their way there, probably getting more supplies and reinforcements, said a senior US defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

More than 1,500 civilians were able to escape Mariupol on Monday, using the dwindling number of private vehicles available to get out, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

But amid the fighting, a Red Cross-accompanied convoy of buses that has been thwarted for days on end in a bid to deliver supplies and evacuate residents was again unable to get inside the city, Ms Vereshchuk said.