Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park after the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima. (Picture: AFP)
Zelensky said Japan inspired him to rebuild Ukrainian cities and towns destroyed in the invasion, in order to rebuild Hiroshima
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday compared the “total destruction” of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which is now hosting the G7 summit, to the 1945 catastrophe after it was hit by a US atomic bomb.
Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of 70,000, was the scene of the longest and bloodiest fighting in the invasion of Russia.
Contemporary footage from Bakhmut shows a town in ruins during months of heavy fighting.
“The pictures of Hiroshima remind me of Bakhmut. There is nothing alive. All buildings have been destroyed,” Zelensky said.
“Complete destruction. There’s nothing there. There are no people.”
Zelensky said Japan inspired him to rebuild Ukrainian cities and towns destroyed in the invasion, in order to rebuild Hiroshima.
“Now, Hiroshima has been rebuilt,” he said.
“We dream of rebuilding all our cities that are now in ruins and every village where not a single house remains after the Russian invasions.”
Zelensky spoke a day after Russia claimed full control of Bakhmut.
Without giving a clear answer, Zelensky said that Russian troops were in Bakhmut, but insisted that it was “not occupied”.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP,