Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

A significant portion of Kharkiv, a town in northwest Ukraine near the Russian border, is occupied by Russian forces, Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit on Sunday.

Just 5% of the region has been liberated by Ukrainian forces, Synegubov said.

"We are not yet able to fully inspect some of the liberated settlements, conduct full-fledged de-mining and begin rebuilding critical infrastructure, as shelling continues," Synegubov said, according to a statement from Zelenskyy’s office. "Where we can do it remotely - we do it."

During the trip to Kharkiv, Zelenskyy inspected destroyed residential buildings in the Saltivka district. The northern and eastern districts of the city suffered the most destruction, with more than 30% of total housing damaged.

Zelenskyy noted that there will be an opportunity to modernize new constructions and that new housing will have to include bomb shelters.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Russia to unblock Ukraine's seaports to end a global "food crisis" while speaking at the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia think tank Friday, according to his office.

"Russia has blocked access to our ports in the Black Sea and occupied our part of the Sea of Azov. As a result of this military blockade, most traditional Ukrainian trade routes have been closed," said Zelenskyy, noting that 22 million tons of grain are currently in storage facilities in Ukraine. "We cannot direct them to the world market, where they are needed right now, at this time."

According to the president, this block has already affected the prices for grain and soon will affect the prices for other food products. He predicted that many countries will run out of last year's harvest stockpiles in July.

“The sooner our ports are unblocked, the sooner the food crisis will stop, because we will be able to send our stocks and new crops to the world market,” Zelenskyy said.

-ABC News' Alexandra Faul

Anna Polonska had struggled to get pregnant. So when she did, it was a moment of sheer joy; a happy family life lay ahead.

But days after Russia invaded Ukraine, her unborn son and husband were killed in shelling as they tried to flee Ukraine, she told ABC News.

She was also gravely injured in the attack, and doctors did not think she would survive.

Adding to her loss, soldiers stole almost all of her possessions and destroyed her apartment, she recalled.

But in a remarkable interview, Anna said she is now focusing on picking up the pieces -- showing incredible courage and determination to live and walk again.

-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge

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Bucha victim on the road to recovery

Anna Polonska’s husband and unborn son were killed in the shelling as they fled Ukraine during a Russian attack.

At least 3,998 civilians have been killed and 4,693 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

At least 260 children were among the dead and 404 among the injured, according to the OHCHR.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes," the agency said in a statement Thursday. "OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration."

Those areas include Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast and Popasna in the Luhansk Oblast, where the OHCHR said "there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties." Casualty numbers from those locations "are being further corroborated" and thus are not included in the latest statistics, according to the agency.