Bangladesh, Nov. 22 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys latest ten-minute address has triggered an extraordinary wave of speculation among diplomats, analysts, and political observers around the world. The speech, framed as a response to the circulating 28-point peace plan drafted jointly by Russia and the United States during Donald Trumps return to high-level negotiations, was remarkable not for what Zelensky said but for what he did not say.

For the first time since the full-scale war began in 2022, Ukraines president chose not to outright reject a peace proposal that many in Kyivs political establishment traditionally describe as capitulation. That silence-deliberate, calibrated, and unusually restrained-has become the real me...