It would be easy to misunderstand the 10-minute address that Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky released for his people and the world in response to the 28-point peace plan devised by Russia and the US and now circulating in draft form.

That’s because Zelensky’s speech was clearly designed to allow for several mutually contradictory interpretations: Was it an attempt to prepare the ground for, in essence, accepting the plan, even though its opponents caricature it as Ukraine’s de facto capitulation? Is the real message, on the contrary, that Zelensky will try to persuade Washington to add conditions that will sink the plan, while blaming Russia? Or is the beleaguered Ukrainian leader really just playing for time and desperately casting about for options, testing the public mood at home and reactions abroad?

Yet one thing is certain, although it was hidden in plain sight: Zelensky’s address was sensational – and that is no hyperbole – because of what he chose not to say. Namely, “no.”

Zelensky could easily have reiterated Kiev’s traditional “red lines.” Indeed, Ukraine’s UN representative has just done so. But, as the important Ukrainian publication Strana.ua noted, Zelensky did not say a word about, for instance, joining NATO. He also did not reiterate the usual refusal to surrender territory that Russia has not yet occupied.

Instead, Zelensky belabored generalities which were wide open to divergent readings and even more divergent practical applications, such as the terms of his official oath of office and the notion that Ukraine’s national interest must be taken into account. Spin 101, really.

Above all, Zelensky belabored the conveniently vague and elastic idea of........

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