Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. shortly after the invasion began, Russian President Vladimir Putin obliquely raised the possibility of a nuclear strike. The conflict has also heightened concerns about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined thousands gathered in Hiroshima’s Peace Park, in the center of the city, to mark the anniversary of the bombing that killed 140,000 in 1945. It is only the second time a UN Secretary-General has attended at the annual ceremony. “Nuclear weapons are nonsense. They guarantee no security – only death and destruction,” Guterres said. “Three-quarters of a century later, we have to ask what we learned from the mushroom cloud that blew over this city in 1945.” WATCHES | We remember Hiroshima:
Keeping Hiroshima stories alive 75 years after the bombing
Seventy-five years after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, there are fewer survivors left to talk about their experience, but a new generation has found a way to keep those memories alive.
The Russian ambassador was not invited to a memorial service
Guterres avoided direct reference to Russia, which calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, whose city did not invite the Russian ambassador to the ceremony this year, was more vocal and critical of Moscow’s military actions in Ukraine. “In invading Ukraine, the Russian leader, elected to protect the lives and property of his people, is using them as tools of war, stealing the lives and livelihoods of civilians in a different country,” Matsui said. “Around the world, the perception that peace depends on nuclear deterrence is gaining momentum,” the mayor added. “These mistakes betray humanity’s determination, born of our experiences of war, to achieve a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons. Accepting the status quo and abandoning the ideal of peace maintained without military violence threatens the very the survival of the human race.” Russia’s ambassador to Japan, Mikhail Galuzin, laid flowers at a memorial stone in the park on Thursday and told reporters that his nation would never use nuclear weapons.
Japanese Prime Minister calls for nuclear disarmament
At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, the American warplane B-29 Enola Gay dropped a bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” and obliterated the city, population 350,000. Thousands more later died from radiation-related injuries and illnesses. On Saturday, as cicadas chirped in the heavy summer air, the Peace bell rang out and the crowd, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who hails from Hiroshima, observed a minute’s silence at the exact moment the bomb went off. A large bell rings to mark a moment of silence and prayers for the victims during the annual memorial service at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. (Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images) Prime Minister Kishida, who has chosen Hiroshima as the site of next year’s Group of Seven summit, called on the world to give up nuclear weapons. Earlier this week, he became the first Japanese leader to attend the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). “We will continue towards the ideal of nuclear disarmament, even given today’s tough security environment,” he said. The destruction of Hiroshima was followed by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the US military on August 9, killing more than 75,000 people instantly. Japan surrendered six days later, ending World War II. LISTEN | Assess the risk of nuclear war: 26:21 As war rages in Ukraine, assessing the nuclear risk A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned last Wednesday. It’s a prospect many in Canada haven’t had to consider since the end of the Cold War, but experts say the risk hasn’t gone away. A few weeks ago, Front Burner did an episode about no-fly zones and how some experts argue that the US should not impose such a zone on Ukraine because it could lead to an escalation that could put Russia and the United States, two nuclear powers, in direct conflict. Today, guest host Jason D’Souza talks with nuclear weapons expert Tom Collina about the state of these major powers’ nuclear arsenals and the devastation they could wreak. Collina, director of policy at the Plowshares Fund, says nuclear weapons enable Russia to “take Ukraine hostage and keep other nations out.
