Only surpassed by 2004's Asian Tsunami Appeal

Donors have made the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine appeal the second biggest in the organisation’s history.

It has now reached £175m in donations, an amount only surpassed by the DEC’s Asian Tsunami Appeal in 2004 which eventually raised £392m.

Since its first appeal, for the victims of the 1966 earthquake in Varto,Turkey, the DEC has launched 74 appeals and raised a total of £1.7bn.

Some of its biggest fundraisers include £107m raised for those affected by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, £96m for the victims of the 2015 Nepal earthquake and £79m raised in 2011 for those affected by drought and famine in East Africa.

A spokesperson for the DEC said: "The response to this appeal has been incredibly generous. We've seen hundreds of thousands of donations from the public, some amazing fundraising stories, and schools, companies, arts organisations and sports events all coming together to lend their support.

“All of our appeals are different but this is the biggest response we've seen since the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.”