UN issues warning as “drums of nuclear war are beating again”

In a message to mark the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Mr. Guterres urged the international community to learn from the “nuclear cataclysm” that befell the Japanese city on August 6, 1945.

That’s according to UN News, Ukrinform reports.

“The drums of nuclear war are beating once again; mistrust and division are on the rise,” the UN chief said in a statement to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, delivered by UN’s High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu.

“The nuclear shadow that loomed over the Cold War has re-emerged. And some countries are recklessly rattling the nuclear sabre once again, threatening to use these tools of annihilation.”

Read also: U.S. senator on Russia's nuclear threats against Ukraine: That would be attack on NATO

Non-proliferation treaty talks are taking place at the UN in the Austrian capital until August 11, where Ms. Nakamitsu reiterated her warning to the forum that not “since the depths of the Cold War” has the risk of a nuclear weapon being used so high – just as the rules-based order intended to prevent their use has never been “so fragile”.

The 1968 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is one of the only international agreements signed by both nuclear and non-nuclear states, aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and furthering the goal of nuclear disarmament.

After entering into force in 1970, 191 states have since become party to the treaty - the most signatories of any arms limitation agreement.

As reported by Ukrinform, Japan is marking the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Sunday. On this day in 1945, at the end of World War II, American troops dropped an atomic bomb on the city in an attempt to force the Japanese Empire to surrender.