Despite Russia’s repeated denials they were responsible for any carnage in Bucha, located outside Kyiv, Russian military vehicles and forces were seen on a Bucha street near civilian bodies, new drone video obtained exclusively by CNN shows.
CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the videos, which were taken by a drone on March 12 and 13. CNN is not naming the individual that took the video over concerns for their safety.
A Russian military vehicle is seen sitting at an intersection in the video from March 13. CNN has identified three objects in the video — just down the street from the military vehicle — are the same bodies that were seen in the video from April 1 and satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on March 18.
Additional drone video from March 13 shows another Russian military vehicle traveling further up the street, in the direction of the bodies.
In the March 12 video, a number of Russian soldiers are seen around a military vehicle parked outside of a house, just down the street from the bodies. It’s unclear what they are doing at the house.
CNN asked the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
International outrage: Russian officials — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — have repeatedly claimed that the videos and satellite images that show bodies in Bucha are fake.
This drone video is the first piece of evidence to emerge from Bucha that shows Russian vehicles and troops operating on the street, where the bodies were found by Ukrainian forces when they retook the town on April 1.
The images that emerged from Bucha after Russian forces retreated have drawn enormous outrage from the international community. It also prompted some leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, to call the atrocities that took place in Bucha war crimes.