Yes, No, Maybe

Zelensky’s Response to the 28-point peace plan has left all options open – and that is the sensation

It would be easy to misunderstand the 10-minute address that Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky has just 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?