TOKYO, August 6. /TASS/. Survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki regret America's documented willingness to protect Japan with means including nuclear weapons, an activist said.

"They’ve said it: 'including extended deterrence,' that is, we are talking about a comprehensive approach. This has given rise to a new aspect, with which our country has already agreed to, and this is extremely regrettable," Terumi Tanaka, the head of Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said. Speaking about the agreements reached between Japan and the US, Tanaka recalled that they also enshrined expanding joint operations between Japanese and US forces. "But the US military is significantly stronger, so even when talking about joint operations, they will not be joint. Rather, Japan will be incorporated into US operations. From that point of view, all of this is extremely regrettable," Tanaka explained.

As a result of the meeting of top US and Japanese diplomats and defense officials held in Tokyo in late July, the sides adopted a joint statement that for the first time stipulated that the US could protect Japan from a potential external aggressor using methods including "extended deterrence," that is nuclear weapons.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were carried out by the US in August 1945 at the end of World War II with the officially declared objective of hastening Japan’s surrender. The bombings of the two Japanese cities are the only times in human history that nuclear weapons were used during war. As a result of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to various estimates, between 70,000 and 100,000 people died in a single day. By the end of 1945, the number of victims had increased to 140,000, due to those who subsequently died in hospitals from injuries and radiation. To date, the total number of victims exceeds 350,000.