Red Cross agencies appealed on Tuesday for 250 million Swiss francs (RM1.14 billion) to provide food, water and shelter to millions of people in Ukraine where the humanitarian situation is "deteriorating rapidly" and to those who have fled abroad.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - the world's largest disaster relief network - issued the joint appeal as a huge Russian armoured column bore down on Kyiv, six days after Moscow's invasion began.

"We need the funds in order to address the humanitarian needs which are already staggering...