Ezra Ngala, an informal construction worker, is struggling to make ends meet in a slum in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “I am trying to survive,” he says while explaining that he cannot feed his wife and four-year-old son.

“For the past few months there has been a surge of people like myself going hungry. The government says that the war in Ukraine is the cause of all this.”

Steep rises in international food and fuel prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine have left millions more Africans facing hunger and food insecurity this year, the UN, local politicians and charities have warned. The price rises have compounded economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sparking concerns of unrest in the hardest-hit countries. Swaths of Africa face an “unprecedented food emergency” this year, in part because of the war in Ukraine, the World Food Programme has said.