German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Sunday that “very soon the Russian leadership will feel what a high price they will have to pay” for the invasion of Ukraine, as he planned a special session with lawmakers to increase German military expenditure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not change his path overnight,” Scholz admitted.

Also read: Russia sets deadline for Ukraine’s decision on Belarus talks proposal

“Yesterday we decided that Germany will deliver weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves. Putin’s aggression meant we cannot give any other response,” he added.

Scholz also stated that he would increase Germany’s defence spending to 2% of GDP and allocate 100 billion euros ($112 billion) to its armed forces in order to modernise and better equip the country’s army – a considerable increase in German defence spending.

Scholz also emphasised the unprecedented sanctions package imposed on Russia.

Also read: Ukraine rejects Russian offer of talks in Belarus; open for other locations

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is “despicable — it breaches international law, it cannot be justified,” Scholz said.

“February 24, 2022, marks a watershed in history of our continent,” he added in the special parliament session. “The horrid pictures we see from Kyiv, in Mariupol, show how unscrupulous [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is. This is so unfair, the pain of the Ukrainians, it gets really close to our hearts.”

Scholz stated that “Russian banks and companies will be cut off from financing,” as a result of the EU’s decision to suspend Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system. We will concentrate on oligarchs in the EU. “We will focus on oligarchs in the EU. We have punitive measures against Putin and people around him.”

Also read: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky calls out Russia for acts of ‘terror’, seeks ‘international tribunal’

“We need to support Ukraine in this desperate situation and we have done so during the last weeks and months,the attack on Ukraine means we are in a new time. As democrats, as Europeans, we are on your side, the right side of history,” Scholz said. 

According to a statement from the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport, Germany will also close its airspace to Russian aircraft at 3 pm local time (9 am ET) on Sunday.

The prohibition, which will initially last three months, will not apply to humanitarian relief planes, according to the Ministry.

It sees Germany join a rising number of European nations in restricting its airspace to Russian flights.