Hiroshima, Nagasaki mayors warn against nuclear war

Jiji Press

11:03 JST, June 23, 2022

VIENNA (Jiji Press) — The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only atomic-bombed cities in the world, on Tuesday voiced their sense of alarm as the risk of nuclear war is growing due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue were speaking at the first conference of the signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna from the day.

In his speech, Taue said there is a risk that nuclear weapons will be used again, with Russia threatening to use its nuclear force.

Taue stressed that the treaty is “the only international treaty that clearly prohibits the ‘immediate crisis’ the world is now facing.”

“At this time where the risk of another Hiroshima and Nagasaki is mounting, we must come together under the hibakusha’s motto of ‘make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site,’” he said.

Meanwhile, Matsui warned against military expansion as a countermeasure against Russia’s nuclear threat.

“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has evolved into attacking civilians indiscriminately and even repeatedly implying the use of nuclear weapons,” Matsui pointed out.

“It is our urgent priority to find a solution,” the mayor claimed, adding, however, that any solution “must not be one that ruins all that humanity has built to make the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of war and nuclear attacks a thing of the past.”