Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his private forces, shortly after he released a scathing video that described the invasion of Ukraine as a “racket” meant to enrich Russia’s corrupt elite.

Prigozhin, who leads the Wagner private military company, accused the Russian minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu, of sending missiles and helicopters to attack camps in Ukraine, where his fighters were bivouacked. He said that some Wagner fighters had died. 

“The evil carried by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” Prigozhin said. Russian law enforcement immediately accused him of fomenting an “armed rebellion.”

For months, the feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership has hampered the war effort, but these new accusations took the conflict to a new level. Never before had Prigozhin accused military leaders of attacking his forces, nor had asserted in such stark terms that the Kremlin’s stated justification for the war was nonsense.

The fall of Roe, one year later

Tomorrow will be one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that changed the country’s patchwork of abortion access, and whole communities with it. Since Roe fell, 20 states have enacted laws banning or restricting abortion.

As some clinic owners canceled appointments and helped patients travel elsewhere, others relocated or stayed open to provide the services they still could. Many simply closed, leaving behind empty buildings.

The Texas heat wave is not letting up

Forecasters expect the unrelenting heat scorching Texas to last until at least early July, with record-breaking temperatures spreading to nearby states this weekend. More than 33 million people are expected to experience dangerous heat. Take a look at our heat tracker to see which areas will be most affected.

Despite the brutal heat, the lights and air conditioning have stayed on across Texas, largely because of the state’s unlikely new ally: solar power.

Why some Americans buy guns

During the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, when protesters flooded the streets and economic uncertainty and isolation deepened, Americans shopped for guns. Social scientists are now beginning to understand what motived these purchases.

Researchers are increasingly focusing on the idea that armed people are more likely to perceive others as armed, and to respond as though they are threatened.

In ‘Asteroid City,’ Wes Anderson goes meta

Wes Anderson’s latest film, which opened in theaters today, is partly set in 1955 in a fictional town in the Southwest. “Asteroid City” uses a television show about a theatrical play to tell the story of a small town commemorating the day a meteor crashed nearby.

Driven by an all-star cast, it’s comical and often wry, but like some of Anderson’s other films, it has the soul of a tragedy.

Take a look: The director narrates a sequence from the film, featuring the actor Jeffrey Wright.

For more: Meet Anderson’s secret weapon: Sanjay Sami, the grip who gives his movies their distinctive look and feel.

Honoring a journey of grief and grace

The new International African American Museum, which is set in a former slave port and opens next week in Charleston, S.C., was clearly conceived as a tribute to victims of the torturous Atlantic Ocean crossing known as the Middle Passage, and specifically to those who arrived, dead or alive, at this very spot.

But the museum is about more than slavery, our critic Holland Cotter writes. It’s about the arrival of a population that, through unthinkable adversity and creative perseverance, utterly transformed what “America” meant, and means.

Dinner table topics

Join the party inside this giant disco ball

There’s a 50-ton suspended music hall at the Shed, a cultural center in Manhattan, that has been likened to Epcot and the Death Star.

It’s called the Sonic Sphere, and it aims for a new kind of listening experience — one that surrounds the audience with 124 meticulously arranged speakers and an array of lights that change color with the music.