There was irony aplenty in the G7 summit at Hiroshima, the city that suffered the unprecedented destruction unleashed by the dropping of the atom bomb by the Americans in 1945, which has instilled an aversion for war and violence in the Japanese people should have been used by leaders of the seven rich industrialised democracies in the world to declare that they would aid Ukraine with all the military support it needs in the war against Russia, instead of saying that there is a need for the war to end. We all understand the complication that Ukraine is only defending itself as Russia invaded the country. Unfortunately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the cities of Russia subjected to incessant bombing and missile attacks from Russia to Hiroshima. The tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which remain the only two cities which have faced a nuclear attack cannot be compared to the fate of any other war-ravaged city or cities. Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced total destruction and the people who had survived the nuclear holocaust had carried the burden of physical suffering for generations because the radiation effects caused by the exploded nuclear devices lasted decades. The G7 leaders should have made an appeal to Russia to end the war without any conditions and put an end to the gratuitous destruction and death that has been inflicted on the people of Ukraine. It is indeed a fact that the Ukrainians have no other option but to defend their land and their homes, and it was but natural that President Zelensky should be asking the Western countries for more military help. While fully in sympathy for the plight of Ukrainians, there is need for leaders of the world to emphasise the need for peace, immediate peace and unconditional peace.

President Zelensky said, “I’ll tell you openly: Photographs of ruined Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements. Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined.” Without in any way downplaying the destruction and death suffered by the Ukrainians in the wake of Russian invasion, it has to be said categorically that nothing compares with the nuclear destruction of life suffered by the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The reason that peace has to be achieved immediately between Ukraine and Russia because of the unfortunate threat of using the nuclear option by Russian President Vladimir Putin a few months after the invasion last year. The G7 leaders, it seems, have missed an opportunity to send out a unanimous and clear message to Russia for the need to end the war and resume diplomatic negotiations. United States President Joe Biden has promised a $375 million military package to Russia. There was no doubt that Ukraine needs to be helped so that its people can defend their land and their liberty. The G7 has imposed further sanctions against Russia, and it seems that this displays the hostile stance of the Western democracies towards Russia, and this is not the way to establish peace. And instead of asking countries like India and Brazil to mediate peace between Ukraine and Russia, the G7 leaders were pressurising the two countries to condemn Russia’s invasion. But mere condemnation of Russia will not help end the war in Ukraine. The G7 is keen to focus on the differences between the ‘democracies’ of the West and the ‘autocracies’ in China and Russia. The West is indeed to revive the old Cold War with its ideological overtones. But the truth is the West is worried by the growing economic clout of China, and its closeness to Russia. To send out a message of ideological war against Russia and China from Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the dropping of nuclear bombs, is indeed ironical.