“The situation in Shebekino is bad,” Sergei Apanasenko, a resident, told the Guardian. “I have evacuated 20 people since last week. There is a feeling that people are forgotten and the authorities aren’t helping with evacuations. We have to do everything ourselves.”

…Inside the city, locals have grown so desperate that many are beginning to call for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin-connected warlord, to take over its defence. “Shebekino is destroyed. It feels like Moscow has forgotten that Shebekino is Russia. We would like for Prigozhin to come and help us,” Evgeny, a local who had also shared a post saying #Prigozhinhelpus, told the Guardian.

Prigozhin has increasingly thumbed his nose at the military leadership, ridiculing them for failing to stop last week’s drone attacks against Moscow and for a recent video of the purported destruction of a Leopard tank that he said looked more like a Ukrainian combine harvester. In the biggest sign of a schism, Wagner troops beat and humiliated a serving Russian officer in command of the 72nd Brigade for allegedly ordering his soldiers to fire on a Wagner convoy. The rifts in Russia’s war machine have grown as Wagner has pulled out of positions in Bakhmut after spending eight months to take the city, leaving regular troops to guard the frontlines while his mercenaries may seek to avoid the opening blows of Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive.

“The Russian army will now be properly tested, they won’t be able to hide behind Wagner like they did in Bakhmut,” said Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner mercenary who knows Prigozhin. He has written a memoir about his time in the paramilitary organisation. “Prigozhin has built a very strong personal brand. He has positioned himself as the leader of the silent majority that isn’t heard. Many trust him more than the defence ministry. They see Prigozhin as their saviour.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/07/chaos-on-frontlines-as-ukraine-war-threatens-to-come-home-for-russia?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The US will back a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 and other modern fighter jets, according to a western official.

Joe Biden has already informed fellow leaders attending a G7 summit in Japan of his decision, the official said. The training will begin in the next few weeks at an unspecified site in Europe and will take a few months to complete. Such training would be a prerequisite to the transfer to Kyiv of F-16s and other western warplanes.

The decision represents a dramatic shift in stance by Washington, which had previously presented the supply of F16s to Ukraine as unfeasible. The speed of the U-turn took some allies by surprise.

There had been reports that the US would give a green light for other states to make preparations to supply western fighter jets, but even close allies did not expect Biden to support direct US involvement in a training programme.

“Things are moving really fast in Japan. Faster even than we had dared hoped,” one European diplomat said.

More at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/19/us-indicates-will-not-block-european-countries-export-f-16-jets-ukraine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

…No publicly traded company would consider naming Trump to an executive position, or even to a position on its board. None of his billionaire friends would trust him with their money. Even in our debased political culture, the cascade of rape allegations and indictments would force Trump’s resignation as a senator, governor, or legislator.

Trump would not be allowed to own an NFL, NBA, or MLB team, and no one would even think of giving him a management job at a local Burger King. It’s impossible to imagine him being given any position of authority at any school or university in the United States.

…At this point, the Senate would be unlikely to confirm Trump’s appointment to any other position of trust. Someone with Trump’s character would not be granted a security clearance at any level of government. We wouldn’t let the man babysit our children or even walk the dog. We would definitely not buy a used car from the guy. But we might give him back the nuclear codes and control over the military, the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, and the Department of Justice. Americans might make him, once again, the face of America.

…After the release of the Access Hollywood tape, the GOP decided that character did not, after all, matter. Seven years later, neither the indictments for paying hush money to a porn star nor the accusations of assault—and rape—are disqualifying for Republican voters. In the 2024 contest for the presidency, they hardly even register.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/trump-reelection-2024-assault-allegations/673957/

NEW YORK — A writer suing Donald Trump took the stand Wednesday to tell jurors that the future president raped her after she accompanied him into a department store fitting room in 1996.

"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back," she testified.

Trump denies E. Jean Carroll's allegations. He hasn't attended the trial thus far, but his lawyers said Tuesday it's still possible he could decide to testify.

More at https://www.npr.org/2023/04/26/1172189592/e-jean-carroll-rape-lawsuit-trial-trump