The German government has approved a 65 billion euro plan to ease the pressure on families amid cuts in Russian gas supplies and rising electricity bills.

“Due to the rapidly growing burden of energy prices, timely and appropriate assistance to citizens and businesses is needed,” the coalition partners said in the document, adding that the total package is “more than 65 billion euros.”

The measures include a €300 lump sum payment to millions of retirees to help pay their high energy bills.

The government will also include students in a lump sum of €200 and cover heating costs for people on housing assistance.

The announcement follows two previous aid packages totaling 30 billion euros, which included tax cuts on gasoline and a large subsidy on transport tickets.

The government is allocating 1.5 billion euros to explore alternatives to the nine-euro monthly ticket on local and inter-regional transport networks, knowing the price is likely to be higher.

And Berlin, which for years depended on energy imports from Russia to meet its needs, is facing rising energy prices and reduced supplies from Moscow.

Inflation in Germany rose again to 7.9% in August after falling for two months under the impact of state aid measures.

Higher energy prices are expected to push inflation in Germany and the eurozone to around 10% by the end of the year, the highest in decades.

The latest state aid package comes two days after Russian energy giant Gazprom announced it would not resume gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline on Saturday, as planned, after three days of repairs.