Nuclear weapons have become a “tangible and real” threat since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said Tuesday, Aug. atomic bombing of this city in southern Japan. .

“In January of this year, the five nuclear powers – the US, Russia, Britain, France and China – issued a joint statement stressing that “there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it must never be unleashed,” Taue recalled. However, the following month, Russia invaded Ukraine. There were threats of the use of nuclear weapons that shocked the entire world,” he said.

“The use of nuclear weapons is not a ‘unfounded fear’, but a ‘real and tangible crisis,'” the mayor added, warning that they could be used as a result of errors in judgment, malfunctions or terrorist attacks. humanity must foster “a culture of peace that spreads trust, respects others and seeks solutions through dialogue”.

Survivors, international and local guests gathered at the Peace Park in the central part of the city on Tuesday to pay tribute to the dead and wounded. At 11:02 am local time, when US military planes dropped a bomb on Nagasaki, a moment of silence passed.

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6, 1945, for the first time in human history, the United States used military nuclear weapons: to persuade Japan to surrender in World War II, Washington dropped the “Baby” atomic bomb on Hiroshima. As a result of the shock wave, about 70,000 civilians died, another 200,000 people died due to the effects of nuclear radiation.

Three days later, on August 9, another American atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people. On August 15, 1945, Japan’s surrender ended World War II. To this day, thousands of people in the two Japanese cities suffer the effects of radiation exposure.