Satellite photographs released appear to rebut Russian assertions that dead bodies in civilian clothing found in Bucha had appeared there after Russian forces retreated from the devastated Ukrainian town, writes France24.

Mid-March satellite imagery of a Bucha street appears to show several bodies of civilians lying dead in or just off the roadway where Ukrainian officials recently said they found multiple corpses after Russian troops withdrew.

“High-resolution Maxar satellite imagery collected over Bucha, Ukraine (northwest of Kyiv) verifies and corroborates recent social media videos and photos that reveal bodies lying in the streets and left out in the open for weeks”, - Maxar Technologies spokesman Stephen Wood said in a statement.

The New York Times published an analysis of close-ups of Bucha’s Yablonska street, and concluded - after comparing it with video footage from April 1 and 2 of dead bodies along the street - that many had been there since at least three weeks ago, when Russian forces were in control of the town.