THE Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will hold nationwide commemorations from this weekend to mark the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This year’s events come with a warning of heightened nuclear dangers caused by the war in Ukraine and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “CND groups will be gathering across the country to honour the victims of the atrocities that occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki 79 years ago, and we invite members of the public to join us at these commemorations.

“It is important that we remind ourselves that such acts of barbarity must never be allowed to happen again, and that we must take action to prevent another nuclear catastrophe.”

Ms Hudson will honour the hundreds of thousands of victims whose lives were cruelly taken in an instant at the annual Hiroshima Day event on Tuesday in Tavistock Square, London, which starts at midday.

She will also warn about the heightened nuclear dangers caused by the war in Ukraine and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. 

This year’s commemoration comes as nuclear weapons states surge ahead with modernising and expanding their arsenals.

The US is bringing nuclear weapons back to Britain for the first time since 2008 at the US-controlled RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk.

CND also warns that Russia has moved its nuclear weapons to Belarus and that nuclear-armed Israel is on the brink of sparking a regional war.

London Region CND chairwoman Carol Turner said: “The world has never been closer to nuclear war.

“Remembering the victims of the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 is a sobering reminder of just what nuclear war would mean to people and planet.”