Money and politics go together, but not always neatly — especially if one is talking about Europe’s putative economic powerhouse, Germany. On Tuesday the German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, announced a new military aid package for Kyiv valued at more than $500 million. It will include 10,000 artillery shells from Bundeswehr warehouses and 100 units of armored infantry vehicles, among other materiel.  

Since 2022, Germany’s overall assistance to Ukraine has surpassed the $25 billion mark. Yet Chancellor Scholz is coming under fire for what is perceived in some quarters as reluctance to give Ukraine full-throttled support against ongoing Russian aggression. 

Germany and Russia, to be sure, have a complicated and often turbulent history, and there is little doubt that it factors into relations between the two countries even now. Speaking at a conference Tuesday at Berlin, Herr Scholz said, “I would like to see a debate in Germany that does not discredit prudence as something that is hesitant.”

Is the economy another reason for such petulance? Possibly: According to a  new report, the German standard of  living took a nosedive following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy shock that ensued. 

In any event, Herr Scholz also said that Berlin was “the first to deliver almost all of the dangerous weapons” to Kyiv. Last week, though, he doubled down on his decision against sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, drawing criticism from his coalition partners.

The governing coalition is showing signs of a split over the country’s Ukraine policy, with Mr. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party in the crosshairs due to an uneven stance on support for the embattled country. Last week the SPD parliamentary leader, Rolf Mützenich, asked whether it could be time to “think about how to freeze a war and end it later.”

He subsequently tried to backtrack from the remark on Saturday, but some damage was done. The liberal Free Democratic Party parliamentary group deputy leader, Michael Georg Link, told Tagesspiegel, “What is the ‘Zeitenwende’ still worth if Scholz and Mützenich only ever help Ukraine just enough to prevent it from sinking at the moment?” 

Mr. Scholz announced the Zeitenwende — German for a historic turning point — in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine to signify a major pivot in German post-World War II foreign policy.

In the meantime, the opposition Christian Democratic Union has entered the fray, warning that the SPD is openly testing the waters with the idea of freezing the conflict — inasmuch as that would even be possible. The CDU’s foreign policy spokesman, Roderich Kiesewetter, is quoted in German press reports saying that the SPD still has a problem with the “romanticization of Russia that is now catching up with us in Germany in a terrible way.”

Back to those Taurus missiles for a moment. On Friday, information that could have colored Mr. Scholz’s stance on not dispatching any to Ukraine was leaked to a German website. An article it published provided details about what was supposed to have been a secret meeting of the Bundestag’s defense committee. 

What exactly transpired at that meeting is not clear. A general concern, at least voiced in the past, is that the use of Taurus missiles, which have a range exceeding 300 miles, in Ukraine could be seen by Moscow as an escalatory move. In February, Chancellor Scholz said that a delivery of the missiles could draw Germany into the war. 

Last week the CDU offered  a motion in the Bundestag calling for the immediate delivery of the Tauruses, but a majority rejected it. Mr. Scholz is now trying to deflect criticism, some of which is coming from well beyond Berlin.

Mr. Scholz believes that his Ukraine policy is the right one for Germany, at least for now. At that Berlin parley he said, “The debate in Germany cannot be surpassed in terms of ridiculousness,” adding that “this is embarrassing for us as a country.” Well, in his view it is.