Hiroshima mayor targets Russia in atomic bombing memorial speech

Three bulk carriers loaded with grain set sail from Ukraine under a landmark deal to free up shipments brokered by Türkiye, as its leader meet his Russian counterpart for talks on day 164 of fighting in Ukraine.

A local resident looks at the rubble of a destroyed building in Toretsk, eastern Ukraine. (AFP)

Saturday, August 6, 2022

Hiroshima official targets Russia in atomic bombing memorial speech

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, in his peace declaration, has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "using his own people as instruments of war and stealing the lives and livelihoods of innocent civilians in another country."

Russia's aggression on Ukraine is helping build support for nuclear deterrence, Matsui said, urging the world not to repeat the mistakes that destroyed his city 77 years ago by US nuclear bombers.

Matsui criticised nuclear weapon states, including Russia, for not taking steps despite their pledge to abide by obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"Rather than treating a world without nuclear weapons like a distant dream, they should be taking concrete steps toward its realisation," he said. Matsui cited Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author of "War and Peace", saying: "Never build your happiness on the misfortune of others, for only in their happiness can you find your own."

Zelenskyy: Russia must take responsibility for nuclear plant 'terror'

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his daily video address has said Russia should "take responsibility for the very fact of creating a threat to a nuclear plant", following a strike at Europe's largest nuclear site,

"Today, the occupiers have created another extremely risky situation for all of Europe: they struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant twice.

Any bombing of this site is a shameless crime, an act of terror," he said. The Ukrainian foreign ministry earlier said the "possible consequences of hitting a working reactor are equivalent to using an atomic bomb".

Moscow, in turn, has accused Ukrainian forces of targeting the plant.

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Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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