MAXAR Lowered the Quality of Images From Bucha, Refuses to Work With Russian & Belarusian Clients

NEW – April 8, 2022

On Monday, April 4, the New York Times published a video from the MAXAR satellite that shows the bodies of civilians killed in Bucha. The publication claims that the video was shot on March 19. We analysed the video and, according to a number of signs, suggested that the satellite video was indeed shot in Bucha, but this happened not on March 19, but on March 31, after the withdrawal of Russian troops.

For confirmation, satellite images over Bucha were purchased from MAXAR on the following dates: February 28, March 11, March 14, March 15, March 21, and March 31. All images except February 28 show corpses in the same position. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, Russian troops entered Bucha on March 5. Before this period, there are no corpses on the road.

All purchased photos for March have a file weight of 50 MB, which does not allow to reliably see bodies on them. At the same time, the image from February 28 (which does not contain corpses) weighs 117 MB.

The New York Times worked with a 120 MB snapshot (it is not publicly available and cannot be purchased).

Photo quality comparison: satellite images only. The New York Times (March 19) and the purchased picture for February 28 are similar in quality (they weigh more than 110 MB). The rest
are sold only in low quality – up to 50 MB or less.

Apparently, all the images in March were replaced, and their quality was deliberately lowered, so that it was not clear that they duplicate each other.

READ: Chief of Ukrainian General Staff Inadvertently Confirms Violation of Minsk Agreements by UAF

This is indicated by the following fact: if we assume that the bodies were in the open air since March 11 (the first satellite image on the site shows the same corpses as the images of March 19 and March 31), then the question arises where the bodies show signs of decomposition and contamination. During this time, it rained twice in Bucha, and the daytime temperature rose to +16 degrees

During the estimated period of the corpse’s presence on the road, there were no traces of contamination on the clothes that the weather conditions (30 and 31 in March, torrential rain was falling in Bucha) *would cause*. By the exposed parts of the body, for example – by the hands, it is clear that people died a maximum of 1-2 days ago. They show areas of the so-called drying of the skin.

The point above confirms the comment of the Director of the Russian Center for Forensic Medical Examination of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Professor Igor Makarov.

“By the 2nd-3rd day, the so-called ‘cadaveric green’ appears on the surface of the skin. By the end of the first day, this cadaveric green covers essentially all the skin of the corpse. Then, after about 1-2 weeks, areas of ‘green’ can turn into a brown and black component. That is, the corpse may even turn black. By the 3rd-4th day, the so-called ‘putrefactive venous network’ appears, and by the end of the second week, so-called ‘putrefactive gases’ appear, which give the corpse increased volumes.”

According to the expert, the signs shown in the photo and video (drying of the skin in some areas) indicate that death occurred several hours, maybe a day ago.

READ: Mosiychuk: Plan for the Cuban Revolution Was Developed by Ukrainian-Banderists

That is, there was no way the bodies could have been lying on the streets from March 11 until the withdrawal of Russian troops from Bucha.

*The official partner of MAXAR, Esri, has blocked the possibility of purchasing images for users from Russia and Belarus.*

Special attention is drawn to this fact: all contractors from the Russian Federation and Belarus are prohibited from buying images from a number of MAXAR partners, for example, ESRI CIS published a notification on its website“We have blocked the ability to purchase products and services for users within Russia and Belarus.”

Those MAXAR partners who it’s possible to buy images from sell only low-quality copies in March (for example, SpyMeSat).

War against fakes