HIROSHIMA: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday compared the "total destruction" of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to the 1945 devastation of Hiroshima, now hosting the G7 summit, after it was hit by a US atomic bomb.
Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Russia's invasion.
Occasional footage from Bakhmut during months of heavy fighting has shown a city of ruins.
"The photos of Hiroshima remind me of Bakhmut. There is absolutely nothing alive. All the buildings are destroyed," Zelensky said.
"Absolute total destruction. There is nothing. There are no people."
Zelensky said that Japan rebuilding of Hiroshima inspired him to rebuild Ukrainian cities and towns destroyed in the invasion.
"Now, Hiroshima is rebuilt," he said.
"We dream of rebuilding all our cities that are now in ruins and every village where not a single house is left after Russian strikes."
Zelensky spoke a day after Russia claimed to have fully taken control of Bakhmut.
Without giving a clear answer, Zelensky said Russian troops were in Bakhmut but insisted it was "not occupied".
