On August 6, the international community observes the World Day for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This date is no coincidence: exactly 80 years ago, in 1945, US air forces dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the city was reduced to ashes. By the end of that year, an estimated 140,000 people had perished: civilians, women, the elderly and children. Those who survived the blast often endured agonizing deaths over the following weeks, succumbing to burns, radiation sickness, hunger, and despair. Three days later came another brutal American bombing - the attack on Nagasaki - unjustified and unprovoked, bringing yet another wave of immense suffering and countless new victims.
That August morning confronted humanity with a horrifying truth: weapons of mass destruction can, in a single moment, wipe out entire cities and turn vibrant lives into unbearable suffering. The bombing of Hiroshima was not merely a military operation, it was a demonstration of how fragile the world can be, and how easily the principles of humanity can be sacrificed for political calculations and ruthless displays of power.
Humanity grieves for the victims of this tragedy, for those torn from life in an act of barbaric experimentation and intimidation. The tears of mothers who lost their children, the shadows of people etched forever onto ruined walls, the cries of pain and hopelessness — these are not just memories. They are warnings. Warnings that nuclear weapons cannot be seen as “deterrents” or “guarantees of security.” They remain symbols of destruction and an existential threat to the very foundation of human civilization.
Eighty years later, the call to ban nuclear weapons rings as urgently as it did in the aftermath of the tragedy. Humanity must remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki so that such horrors are never repeated. Any attempt to justify the use of weapons of mass destruction and any form of aggression that endangers the future of our planet must be firmly condemned.
A world built on nuclear fear cannot be a stable one. It demands not only international agreements but also a genuine commitment by nations to disarmament and to building trust. The struggle for peace is not a one-time effort, it is an ongoing choice that every nation and every individual must make.
Today, as we remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we say: the memory of the victims compels us to act. It compels us to fight for a world where nuclear weapons remain nothing more than a dark chapter in history. Those two strikes by the United States must never be forgotten for they were not simply explosions, but deep and lasting wounds on the very body of humanity.