Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday compared the devastation caused by fighting in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that Moscow allegedly captured, to the devastation caused by the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.
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“I can honestly say that the photos of destroyed Hiroshima remind me of Bakhmout. There is absolutely nothing alive, all buildings are destroyed (…) absolute and total destruction,” said Mr. Zelenskyy during a press conference on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan.
“Today Hiroshima is a rebuilt city and we dream of rebuilding our cities that are currently in ruins,” said the President of Ukraine.
Bakhmout, a pre-conflict town of about 70,000, was the scene of the longest and deadliest battle in the war that began in February 2022 and was devastated by the fighting.
Aerial photos of Bakhmout show charred and crumbling buildings and streets strewn with debris.
The United States atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred on August 6 and 9, 1945 during World War II and resulted in the surrender of the Japanese government.
Mr Zelenskyy gathered in front of the memorial to the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb on Sunday, on the sidelines of the G7 summit taking place in the Japanese city.
The bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 claimed around 140,000 lives.