Ukraine is leading exporter of grains—not for nothing is it called “the breadbasket of Europe”. War is predictably wreaking havoc on its harvests as well as food delivery infrastructure, with ramifications that are truly global.

WFP buys nearly half of its wheat supplies from Ukraine and Kern said that the crisis there since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 had pushed up food prices sharply.

"With global food prices at an all-time high, WFP is also concerned about the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food security globally, especially hunger hot spots," he said, warning of "collateral hunger" in other places.

The agency is paying $71 million a month extra for food this year due to both inflation and the Ukraine crisis, he said, adding that such an amount would cover the food supplies for 4 million people. "We are changing suppliers now but that has an impact on prices," he said. "The further away you buy it, the more expensive it gets."

The longer this war continues the more people around the world will suffer from food price inflation (already a problem before the war began), be pushed into food insecurity, then into hunger, and, eventually, famine.

There will be casualties to this conflict who never set foot in Ukraine or Russia. That alone should be reason enough for the shooting to stop.