TOKYO, August 6. /TASS/. Residents of Japan observed a minute of silence for the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 80 years ago.
The main ceremony to mark the anniversary of the tragedy was taking place at the Peace Memorial Park in central Hiroshima. The minute of silence, traditionally counted by ringing a bell, was announced nationwide at 08:15 local time (02:15 Moscow time, 11:15 p.m. GMT) - the moment the bomb exploded on August 6, 1945.
After that, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui read a declaration calling on the world to renounce nuclear weapons. Then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gave a speech.
The US Armed Forces carried out the first-ever atomic bombing in history, striking the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the tail end of World War II. The bombings were justified as a way to accelerate the capitulation of the Empire of Japan. These attacks are the sole instance of nuclear weapons ever being used in a military conflict in the history of humanity.
According to various estimates, the explosion of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed between 70,000 and 100,000 people in one day. By the end of 1945, the death toll had risen to 140,000 due to those who died in hospitals from their wounds and radiation. The total number of victims of the bombing currently exceeds 350,000.
The United States still does not acknowledge its moral responsibility for the atomic bombings. Former US President Joe Biden, who attended the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May 2023, and Barack Obama, who in 2016 became the first sitting US president to visit the memorial, have not apologized for the atomic strikes. Current US leader Donald Trump has not visited the memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although the authorities of Japanese cities invited him both during his first presidential term (2018-2021) and this time.