# Drone truth: Russia has the upper hand

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/economist-podcasts-921330/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/economist-podcasts-921330/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand.md
Podcast: [Economist Podcasts](https://stenobird.com/podcast/economist-podcasts-921330)
Published: 2026-09-18T09:42:38+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/theintelligencepodcast/episodes/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/d556eb54-6160-4c85-95f4-47d9f5216c49/a/theeconomistallaudio/e/6aad03f98a1508074de8337e/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=io_z-qc1aIrVdp8hdI3IgGKyTuPZqt1akKda0RA1o2o
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/economist-podcasts-921330/episodes/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand
Duration seconds: 1548

## Resource

After a visit to Ukraine last week, our defence editor reports on a new phase of the war as Kyiv and other civilian targets are bombarded by Russian missiles. He also visits an elite Ukrainian drone unit. Why alcohol companies are scrambling to innovate. And remembering the life of feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem . Watch extended clips from Insider   Guests and host: Alex Turner, defence editor Avantika Chilkoti, global business writer Ann Wroe, obituaries editor Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence” Topics covered:  Ukraine, drones, Shahed, Kyiv Alcohol, beer, aperol Gloria Steinem, feminism Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology— subscribe to The Economist . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/economist-podcasts-921330/episodes/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/economist-podcasts-921330/drone-truth-russia-has-the-upper-hand.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.