No Taurus Missiles: SPD Backs Scholz’s Approach to Ukraine and NATO’s Limits
F-15K fighter jet releases a Taurus missile
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) plans to include a ban on supplying Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles in its election program, but will support other ways to provide military assistance to Kiev, the Funke media group reported on Sunday, citing a draft document it had seen. The SPD’s election program stresses that neither Germany nor NATO should get involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
"Therefore we support Chancellor Olaf Scholz's decision not to supply Taurus cruise missiles from the Bundeswehr's stockpiles," the document, quoted by Funke, read.
However, the party supports military training for Ukrainian soldiers to protect Ukraine and “ensure peace in Europe,” and advocates arms and equipment supplies to Kiev provided that they are carried out with “prudence and a sense of proportion.” The SPD also reaffirms its commitment to providing diplomatic, military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine. “Ukraine should be able to conduct possible negotiations with Russia on equal terms,” the document read. 
WorldGermany Snubbed Ukraine’s Demands For Taurus Missiles, Expedited NATO Membership – Report 13 October, 07:10 GMTScholz has repeatedly said that he will not change his decision to deny Taurus missiles to Ukraine or allow Kiev to use German-supplied weapons to strike Russia’s internationally recognized territories. At the same time, the head of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, said that if elected chancellor, he would call on Russia to stop striking Ukrainian infrastructure within 24 hours, otherwise Berlin would supply Kiev with Taurus missiles. Scholz’s three-party government imploded in early November after he fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the Free Democratic Party leader, citing his unwillingness to greenlight an increase in the aid to Ukraine simultaneously with an increase in domestic spending.
