Overview
- The programme aired Thursday, June 4 at 22:15 on ZDF, will be posted to the ZDF‑Mediathek after broadcast and is scheduled for a repeat on phoenix.
- The central question posed was whether the Ukraine war is moving toward a negotiated end or toward renewed escalation given recent Ukrainian battlefield gains and public statements from President Zelenskyj's team.
- Panelists noted that Russia has stepped up strikes, including on Kyiv, which complicates any move toward talks and raises the risk of wider confrontation.
- Guests included Armin Laschet (CDU), Klaus von Dohnanyi (SPD), Claudia Major (German Marshall Fund), Rüdiger Bachmann and Wolfgang Merkel, who focused on policy options for Germany and Europe.
- The show framed broader fallout from U.S. distraction over the Middle East and the cancelled stationing of conventional Tomahawk missiles in Germany as a test of whether Europe can bolster deterrence and mediate the conflict, and the programme situates this debate within Maybrit Illner's long-running role in German public political discussion.