Expected. and this ideology, this radicalization of the russian president, that he is on a historic mission that he wants to fulfill about the, as he called it, the heroical unity of ukrainians and russians, this can be a very powerful driver even if the costs are piling up. and the russian president does not have the same kind of accountability to his own population as western leaders have. he can basically use all the resources, and he can proclaim victory at any time that he wants. so this is very much about ideology rather than about rational goals or policy decisions that are made here, and this makes it a little bit easier to explain why and how this all happened. and it makes it harder to fight. a very good point. great analysis as always. dr. liana fix, thanks so much. thank you. we ll take a quick break. when we come back on cnn newsroom, the latest on china s covid surge. a live report from beijing after the break.