Sources have told NHK that Hiroshima is likely to broaden its announcement of plans for this year's ceremony marking the 1945 atomic bombing to all countries and regions that have diplomatic channels with Japan.



The sources add that Russia and Palestine are among those to which Hiroshima plans to give the announcement.



Until last year, Hiroshima invited ambassadors of all countries recognized by Japan and leaders of nations that had not signed or joined the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to the annual ceremony.



Hiroshima did not invite Russia and Belarus for three successive years since the invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022. The city also did not give an invitation to Palestine because Japan had not recognized it as a country.



This year's ceremony will commemorate 80 years since the atomic bombing. The sources say Hiroshima wants many delegates to take part in the memorial.



The sources also say Hiroshima wants to use the occasion to boost the awareness of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and highlight the need to rid the world of such arms.



The ceremony traditionally takes place on August 6, the date when the atomic bomb went off over the city shortly before the end of World War Two.