Ukrainian President told Japan’s parliament that the United Nations had failed over the conflict in his country and reforms were needed, calling for more pressure on Russia, writes France24.

“Neither the United Nations nor the UN Security Council have functioned. Reforms are needed. We need a tool to preemptively ensure global security. Existing international organisations are not functioning for this purpose, so we need to develop a new, preemptive tool that can actually stop invasions”, - Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers via videolink.

He praised Japan as “the first nation in Asia that started piling pressure on Russia.

“I ask you to continue to impose sanctions. Let’s make efforts to ensure Russia will want and seek peace. Trade embargoes on Russia must be introduced to stop the tsunami of the invasion against Ukraine”, - said the President.

Zelensky used the address to Japan, which remains haunted by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, to warn of the dangers his country faced from Russian attacks on nuclear plants and the site of the Chernobyl meltdown.

“Atop shattered reactors are... active processing facilities for nuclear materials. Russia turned that into a war zone”, - he said, warning that years would be needed to assess possible environmental effects of Russia’s occupation of Chernobyl.

Zelensky also repeated assertions made by Washington that Russia could be preparing to use chemical weapons, though he provided no specific evidence.

“I’m receiving reports that Russia is preparing attacks using chemical weapons such as sarin, just like Syria”, - he told lawmakers in Tokyo, which was the site of a 1995 sarin attack by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.