The 58-year-old 1988 Olympic pole vault gold medallist, who won the first of his six world titles for the Soviet Union, is now a longstanding IOC member, senior vice-president of World Athletics and President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine.

"Thank you for all your messages and calls of support from around the world," Bubka tweeted, in a first post since the Beijing 2022 Closing Ceremony.

"Ukraine is grateful that the IOC stands in full solidarity and their task force is in contact with the NOC of Ukraine to coordinate humanitarian assistance.

"War must stop, peace and humanity must prevail".

Bubka has spoken about the crisis with Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics, which yesterday condemned the Russian military invasion.

"World Athletics is appalled by developments in Ukraine and condemns the Russian military invasion," the organisation said in a statement.

"World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has spoken with his senior vice-president Sergey Bubka and the Ukrainian Athletics Federation and has offered whatever practical support we can give."

The World Athletics statement also noted: "The Russian Athletics Federation has been suspended from World Athletics since 2015, due to doping violations, and therefore is not eligible to host World Athletics events or send teams to international championships."

Yesterday also saw the IOC calling for Russia and Belarus to be stripped of all international sporting events and have their flags banned, a stance that was soon backed by the European Olympic Committees (EOC).

Further reaction to the Russian actions from top sporting administrators has come in the form of a tweet by Witold Bańka, Poland’s former 400 metres runner who is now President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"While I believe that sport should be separate from politics, there is simply no sport without peace", Bańka tweeted.

"I strongly condemn the violence and Russian invasion towards Ukraine!

"The whole sport community should be united in this regard."