Russia says US liable for Bakhmut destruction after Zelenskiy likens city to Hiroshima

Russia has highlighted Ukrainian president's remarks likening the ruins in his country's eastern city of Bakhmut to the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of WWII, blaming Washington and its policies for both of them.

“Nice one,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote mockingly in a Sunday post on the her Telegram social media account, adding, “Since both were carried out by the White House.”

She was referring to remarks made by Volovymyr Zelensky during his visit to Hiroshima for the G7 summit in the Japanese city, in which he compared the tragic destruction of the city by the 1945 US atomic bombing to the ruins left in Bakhmut as the result of conflict largely fueled by the massive flow of weapons to Ukraine.

Zelensky confirmed to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit that destruction and loss of Bakhmut, saying: "They’ve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It’s a pity. It’s [a] tragedy."

He, however, insisted  that Ukrainian troops were still in control of some areas in Bahkmut, though they did acknowledge the situation in the city was "critical." after Russia's attack.

Zelensky further claimed during a press conference in Hiroshima that the Ukrainian forces were continuing to fight inside Bakhmut and that they were carrying out “important tasks,” without elaborating on details.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin has praised the triumph of Russian forces in Bakhmut, describing it as the "liberation" of the city, widely viewed as the focal point of armed combat between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

The Kremlin further declared on Sunday that all "military personnel who distinguished themselves in the operation [in Bahkmut] will be recommended for state decorations."

It added that Putin had "congratulated the Wagner assault units as well as all service personnel of the Russian Federation Armed Forces who had rendered them the required support and protected the flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate" the city.

Zelensky, however, insisted that Ukrainian troops still maintained presence in the ruined city, claiming: “Today they are in Bakhmut — in which places, I won’t share. But this speaks to the fact that Bakhmut has not been captured by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of this.”

Zelensky went on to state that once the war is over, he would like to see the same kind of successful reconstruction that Hiroshima experienced in places like Bakhmut.

The US and its mostly Western allies in Europe have supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of various lethal weaponry since the onset of the war in February 2022.

Russia has time and again warned that the Western military support would only prolong the war and ruin any hope for a peaceful end.

Weapons supplied to Kiev include advanced missile systems, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems, in addition to long-range attack drones, and other weapons, as the West continues to give its all-out support to Kiev against Moscow's troops.

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