Airstrikes Kill Several in Ethiopia’s Tigray Capital

Residents sift through rubble from a destroyed building at the scene of an airstrike in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (AP Photo)
Residents sift through rubble from a destroyed building at the scene of an airstrike in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (AP Photo)
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Airstrikes Kill Several in Ethiopia’s Tigray Capital

Residents sift through rubble from a destroyed building at the scene of an airstrike in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (AP Photo)
Residents sift through rubble from a destroyed building at the scene of an airstrike in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (AP Photo)

Two airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region Wednesday morning, killing 10 people, according to the director of the city’s flagship Ayder Referral Hospital.

The target in Mekele “was a residential neighborhood,” Kibrom Gebreselassie told The Associated Press. “Three of the victims need urgent major surgery, in the face of (a) shortage of medicines and zero medicines.”

A second doctor told the AP the fatalities occurred in the second strike.

The death toll could climb as more patients reach the hospital, a third doctor said. The two doctors spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In a weekend statement to mark the beginning of Ethiopia’s new year, the Tigray leadership said they were ready to participate in an “immediate” cessation of hostilities leading to a comprehensive ceasefire. But Ethiopia’s federal government is yet to publicly respond amid reports of more talks between the two sides in Djibouti.

Several airstrikes have hit Mekele since fighting resumed between Tigray forces and Ethiopia’s government in late August, shattering a period of relative calm since late March.

That calm had allowed more humanitarian aid to reach Tigray but those deliveries have now been halted, according to the United Nations. Deliveries to conflict-affected parts of the neighboring Amhara region have also stopped.

Since the conflict broke out in November 2020, tens of thousands are believed to have been killed and millions displaced in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions.



Trump Says Will ‘Not Put up with’ Zelensky War Stance

US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Will ‘Not Put up with’ Zelensky War Stance

US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Donald Trump said Monday that Washington would "not put up with" Volodymyr Zelensky's rhetoric much longer, as the US president prepared to meet his top team after a disastrous Oval Office row with the Ukrainian.

"This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer," Trump said on social media, citing a story quoting Ukraine's president saying the end of the war with Moscow was far off.

"This guy doesn't want there to be Peace as long as he has America's backing."

Trump also took aim at European leaders who met Zelensky for crisis talks in London at the weekend, saying that they had "stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US."

"Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump's broadside came after a meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky at the White House on Friday which descended into an extraordinary on-camera argument.

Trump and Vance raised their voices and accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful for US military assistance, as the Ukrainian pushed his demand for US security guarantees as part of any truce.

Zelensky was then told to leave the White House, with a crucial deal giving Washington preferential access to Ukraine's mineral resources left unsigned.

Trump is now meeting his top advisors on Monday to discuss next steps on Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters.

White House officials did not confirm a report by the news outlet Axios that Trump was considering cutting all military aid to Kyiv following the row.

European leaders, who have offered peacekeepers to guarantee any ceasefire but also want a US "backstop", met in London on Sunday in a desperate bid to resolve the row.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Monday with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the leaders' meeting in London.

Rubio "confirmed the United States is ready to negotiate to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict and will continue working with the UK towards peace in Ukraine," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.