France's Renaud Lavillenie, the 2012 Olympic champion, broke Sergei Bubka's 21-year-old indoor pole vault world record at the Donetsk meeting.
The Ukrainian great set the previous record in 1993 at the same event, reports Xinhua.
Lavillenie easily vaulted 6.16 metres in his first attempt to improve the record by one centimetre Saturday.
An ecstatic Lavillenie put his head in his hands and ran round the auditorium celebrating.
"It was totally crazy. I wanted to do my best. It was incredible," said the 27-year-old.
Bubka vaulted 6.15 metres in 1993 for the previous record and still holds the outdoor world record of 6.14 metres set in 1994.
The 50-year-old former champion was present to witness Lavillenie's feat and among the first to congratulate him.