Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Auré Oganbe.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

What if we could automate every single task with AI? Would the world be more productive?

Or will the economic growth eventually just plateau? Our correspondent conducts a little

thought experiment. And, known largely for his profane books and obsession with problematic

male characters, we pay tribute to the British novelist Martin Amis.

But first.

In a protracted war, few battles have been as bloody as the fights for backmoot.

Over several grueling months, Ukrainian commandos have fended off wave after wave of Russian troops.

Now, you have any pregusion, the head of the Vagna mercenary group, says that the city is under his control

and ready to be handed over to the Russian army. It's a claim disputed by Kiev, but what's not in

question is the human cost. In an interview posted on a Russian telegram channel, Mr.

Progurzion said that thousands of Vagna fighters had been killed trying to take the city.

He also warned that Russia could face another revolution if the Kremlin didn't improve its

handling of the war. His criticism is certainly not unfounded.

From the botched assault on Kiev to the ill-fated push into Dombass last summer,

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has hardly gone to plan. But despite all this,

its army does appear to be improving its tactics, and that could pose a serious problem for the

Ukrainian counteroffensive. One of the iconic videos from the first phase of this war was a mask

Ukrainian soldier. Shashank Joshi is the defense editor at the economist.

He was taking cover in a forest, holding an assault rifle, the Russian war planes flying overhead,

and he is musing on the ineptitude of the Russian forces that he's facing.

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