The date alone makes it clear that this is an exceptional situation after Russia began attacking Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at noon in the Chancellery that he had asked the President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas to convene a special session of the Bundestag for Sunday.
In this he wanted to make a government statement on Russia's attack on Ukraine.
Scholz sharply condemned Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, the "brother people of Russia".
The Russian President Vladimir Putin is thereby questioning the European peace order.
"This is Putin's war," said the chancellor, leaving no doubt as to who was responsible.
He promised full solidarity with Ukraine.
Further sanctions against Russia should be decided on Thursday.
Johannes Leithauser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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Eckhart Lohse
Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.
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The Chancellor's first public statement was sent out at 6:09 a.m. in the early morning.
"This is a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe," it said.
Scholz wasn't able to say much at that early hour.
He spoke of a "ruthless act by President Putin" and that the military action must be stopped immediately.
He announced close cooperation between the G7 countries, NATO and the EU.
Finally, he pledged “our solidarity” to Ukraine.
Solidarity.
full solidarity.
Not "unrestricted solidarity", as Scholz' Social Democratic predecessor in the Chancellery, Gerhard Schröder, assured the Americans hit by serious terrorist attacks in 2001 - of all people, the man who then became the most prominent German Putin friend and is still at his side today.
This unlimited solidarity led to the longest German military operation of the post-war period.
In view of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Scholz and his government are a long way from a military operation.
Just like all other G-7 and NATO partners.
The German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock brought much more pathos to bear in the morning: "Dear fellow citizens" is her opening formula, followed by the statement, "We woke up in a different world today".
This also applies to the minister herself, whose term of office for almost three months has consisted primarily of using all diplomatic energy to prevent the moment that has now arrived.
And the bitterness that comes from the fact that this effort was pointless.
You can hear it now: "Months of lies and threats" she accuses the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.
Now he breaks "with the elementary rules of the international order".
With his war, Putin wants above all to destroy Ukraine's right to democracy, peace and a future in freedom, but he will not succeed.
She is convinced "that many people in Russia are ashamed of it too," says Baerbock, trying in this way, in the moment of stunned disappointment, to build a bridge to those who may not want to follow Putin in his own country.
The Foreign Minister then states that Germany and the other Western nations are "stunned, but not helpless".
She announces sanctions that will now hit Russia.
And like the chancellor and other German politicians and the heads of state of other western countries, they clothe the civil and economic punitive measures with martial adjectives and overtones intended to suggest a military appeal that is lacking in the content of the announcements.
While others speak of "unprecedented" sanctions, Baerbock asserts this morning that "every meter" of further action will now be coordinated with the partner countries so that a "most massive package" of sanctions can be put in place.