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Guterres Appeals for $8 Bln to Equitably Vaccinate 40% of World in 2021

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US. Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US. Reuters
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Guterres Appeals for $8 Bln to Equitably Vaccinate 40% of World in 2021

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US. Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US. Reuters

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Thursday for $8 billion to equitably vaccinate 40% of people in all countries by the end of the year as the World Health Organization launched a plan aiming to inoculate 70% of the world by mid-2022.

"Crucially, the success of this plan requires equitable distribution," Guterres told reporters.

"Without a coordinated, equitable approach, a reduction of cases in any one country will not be sustained over time. For everyone's sake, we must urgently bring all countries to a high level of vaccination coverage," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Guterres pushed the Group of 20 rich countries to deliver on their "desire to get the world vaccinated" at a summit in Rome later this month.

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Russia Launches New Year Drone Strike on Kyiv, 2 Killed

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
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Russia Launches New Year Drone Strike on Kyiv, 2 Killed

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT

Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, killing two people, wounding six others and damaging buildings in two districts, Reuters quoted city officials as saying.
Explosions boomed across the morning sky as Ukraine's air force warned of drones approaching the capital and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were repelling an enemy attack.
Two floors of a residential building were partially destroyed in the strike, according to the State Emergency Service said. Two people were killed, it said.
Photos posted by the State Emergency Service showed firefighters dousing a gutted corner of a building and rescuers helping elderly victims.
The National Bank of Ukraine said in a statement that one of its buildings had been damaged by debris from a downed drone. Debris also damaged a non-residential building in a different neighborhood, Klitschko added.
"Even on New Year's Eve, Russia was only concerned about how to hurt Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media in response to the strike.
Kyiv's military said it had shot down 63 out of 111 drones launched by Russia overnight across various regions of Ukraine. Another 46 had been downed by electronic jamming, it added.
Russia has carried out regular airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion. 
Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday that no one would give peace to his country as a gift, but he believed the United States would stand alongside Kyiv.

Zelenskiy, in a slick 21-minute New Year video greeting to his compatriots, also said only a strong Ukraine could secure peace and earn worldwide respect.

"We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war, something each of us desires," Zelenskiy said against a backdrop of the blue-and-yellow national flag, battlefield scenes and pictures of children.
He recalled conversations with outgoing US President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and "everyone who supports us in the United States.”

"I have no doubt that the new American president wants and will be able to bring peace and end (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's aggression," Zelenskiy said.
"He understands that the former is impossible without the latter. Because this is not a street brawl where the two sides need to be pacified. This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilized one. And I believe that, together with the United States, we are capable of the strength to force Russia into a just peace."
Russia, Zelenskiy said, was not to be trusted either in battle or in talks.
"If today Russia shakes your hand, it doesn't mean that tomorrow the same hand will not start killing you," he said. "Russians fear those who are free. What they don't understand. They fear freedom."