EU will close its airspace to Russia and finance arms supplies to Ukraine

In addition, the bloc will ban the broadcast of media outlets that are said to support the Kremlin.

The European Union will close its airspace to Russian airlines and finance arms supplies to Ukraine , Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced on Sunday.

“For the first time, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack,” the official said.

The bloc will also ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets in response to Russia’s invasion.

Von der Leyen added that “we are closing the EU airspace for the Russians. We propose a ban on all Russian-owned, Russian- registered , or Russian-controlled aircraft . These planes will no longer be able to land, take off or fly over EU territory.”

He also detailed that the EU will ban “the Kremlin’s media machine. The state-owned companies Russia Today and Sputnik , as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and sow division in our Union.”

Von der Leyen added that the EU will also sanction Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for supporting Russia’s widespread military campaign in Ukraine.

“We will hit the Lukashenko regime with a new package of sanctions,” he said.

For its part, Germany announced this Sunday that it would allocate 100 billion euros to a special fund for the Armed Forces and that it would keep its defense spending above 2 percent of GDP from now on. This was one of the most significant changes in European security policy in decades, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement — which came hours after Germany announced it would send arms and other supplies directly to Ukraine — underscored how Russia’s war in Ukraine was rewriting post-World War II European security policy.