People walk in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Monday.
16:45 JST, April 25, 2024
Hiroshima (Jiji Press) – The atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima in western Japan said Wednesday that it will not invite Russia and Belarus to its annual peace commemoration ceremony on August 6.
The two countries have not been invited to the Hiroshima peace ceremony since 2022, when Russia launched its aggression against Ukraine.
“If we invite them, it may affect the smooth conduct of the ceremony,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui told a regular news conference. “We cannot say that the situation has changed, so we will continue to take the same position this year.”
Hiroshima plans to send letters to the two countries next month, asking them to resolve the fighting quickly and visit Hiroshima.
Meanwhile, the city plans to invite Israel, which continues to fight in Gaza, to the peace ceremony.
The Japanese city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, in the final days of World War II.
