'Nuclear deterrence mere folly': Japan marks 78th anniversary of Hiroshima atom bomb attack

Hiroshima held its 78th peace memorial ceremony on Sunday to mark the day an atomic bomb was dropped on the city, with officials criticising the growing support for nuclear weapons as deterrence.

About 50,000 participants in the outdoor memorial ceremony including ageing survivors observed a moment of silence as the peace bell tolled at 8.15am to commomorate when Little Boy was dropped.

Speaking at the sombre ceremony, Japanese leaders urged for the abolition of nuclear weapons and called the G7 leaders’ notion of nuclear deterrence a 'folly'.

“I would like to ask nuclear deterrent advocates: ‘Are you going to take responsibility for the innocent Ukrainian civilians who are dying at this very moment?' Ukraine is not being invaded because it has abandoned nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons and that is why it cannot stop the invasion." Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki said

The ceremony was also attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

(AP)