Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) has contradicted her cabinet and party colleague Karl Lauterbach on Germany's role in the Ukraine war.
"It is very clear - both for the German federal government and for the entire NATO: We will not be a party to the war," said Lambrecht on Sunday in the ARD program "Report from Berlin".
Federal Health Minister Lauterbach had previously written on Twitter: "We are at war with Putin".
With his tweet on Saturday, the SPD politician referred to statements by the writer Richard David Precht.
He had demanded that individual NATO states should guarantee Russia that Ukraine would not be included in the alliance.
"Let's be honest: What is kneeling in front of Putin supposed to do now?" Lauterbach wrote. "We are at war with Putin and not his psychotherapists. Victory in the form of the liberation of Ukraine must continue to be pursued consistently." Psyche" of Russian President Waldimir Putin can cope, "it doesn't matter".
Lambrecht, on the other hand, emphasized on ARD that the principle of not becoming a party to the war “guided us from the start.
And that hasn't changed either.” The minister returned from a visit to Ukraine on Sunday.
Among other things, she met her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Resnikov in the port city of Odessa.
There was an air alert during her visit: "We experienced this twice in a few hours and had to move it to a bunker," said Lambrecht.
“And for the people that is a reality there.
That's everyday life."
The population in Ukraine is "tormented," said Lambrecht.
"And imagine what that means for children, for older people, to be constantly exposed to this fear, this threat, that this situation can arise at any time." That is why it is so important to Ukraine "right now at to support the air defense that these attacks can be fought".
In the Russian war of aggression, air defense "has meanwhile become a very central focus," said the minister.
"And Germany will stand by Ukraine's side."