Maybrit Illner: “Both Sides Are to Blame” - 9-Minute Dohnanyi Interview on Ukraine War Sparks Outrage
Klaus von Dohnanyi’s claim that Ukraine and the West share blame for the war drew sharp pushback on Maybrit Illner.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
In a pre-recorded interview, the 97-year-old SPD veteran argued that NATO ambitions helped drive the war in Ukraine and said Kyiv and the West share responsibility. The remarks triggered visible irritation from guests, who rejected the framing as historically wrong and blame-shifting.
It was like a classroom argument over who started a fight. One older politician said both sides are to blame, but other guests said that was unfair because it sounded like blaming the person who got hit.
Analysis
What happened
In a pre-recorded segment on ZDF’s Maybrit Illner, former Hamburg mayor and long-time SPD figure Klaus von Dohnanyi used the interview to argue that Ukraine and the West helped contribute to the war by pursuing NATO membership for Kyiv. He said the war was the result of fault on both sides and repeated that Ukraine should remove the NATO goal from its constitution.
Why it caused a backlash
After the clip ended, moderator Maybrit Illner tried to move the discussion on, but security expert Claudia Major pushed back immediately. She said the interview’s logic felt like victim-blaming and described parts of it as historically wrong. The article says the guests in the studio later distanced themselves from Dohnanyi’s line of argument.
Dohnanyi’s position
Dohnanyi, who has just published a book called Frieden – Wie geht das?, argued that Ukraine should have taken a more cautious course and that President Volodymyr Zelensky had ignored warnings from American security experts about a NATO path. He said he believes Putin would not have launched the war if Ukraine had not been determined to join NATO. At the same time, he rejected EU membership for Ukraine, warning that it could pull the bloc into the conflict, while still saying security guarantees and closer economic ties with the West would make sense.
Key points
- Klaus von Dohnanyi said Ukraine and the West share blame for the war because of NATO ambitions.
- Claudia Major sharply rejected the framing and called it historically wrong and victim-blaming.
- Illner tried to move the debate forward, but the interview remained the focus of the studio discussion.
- Dohnanyi argued Ukraine should remove NATO membership from its constitution and favor security guarantees instead.
- The exchange added to Germany’s broader argument over how to talk about peace, responsibility, and deterrence.
The backlash could force a clearer, more careful public debate about Ukraine, NATO, and what a realistic peace framework might look like. It may also pressure broadcasters and guests to challenge claims more directly when they cross into blaming the victim. The discussion could still help surface concrete alternatives such as security guarantees and deeper Western economic ties, which Dohnanyi said he supports.
If this framing gains more airtime, it could muddy public understanding of who is responsible for the war and feed arguments that shift blame away from Russia. The article suggests the debate may also deepen polarization inside Germany over Ukraine policy, NATO, and EU enlargement.
