Stop the violence, ask a doctor at a Ukrainian hospital 5:44
Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine (CNN) --
Vova is unaware that there is a war raging right outside her window.
He doesn't understand the meaning of the air raid sirens.
He is not aware of the destruction caused by Russian bombs falling on Kyiv.
He just wants to build towers with his toy blocks and press the buttons on his mother's phone to make her play the songs and cartoons she likes.
Vova, Volodymyr's pet name, is 17 years old and suffers from Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome, a rare genetic disease that causes severe intellectual disabilities.
According to his mother Natalia Komarenko, Vova needs ongoing care and anti-seizure medication that has become unavailable as Russian troops close in on the Ukrainian capital.
"We can't get the drugs we desperately need: the anticonvulsants Levetiracetam and Lamotrigine. She's been taking them since she was 10 years old," he told CNN.
Evacuation is not an option for the Komarenkos because Vova's condition makes travel extremely risky.
Vova, 17, is one of the thousands of people who cannot leave Kyiv due to their health condition.
"We cannot take him by train, because at any moment he may have a seizure and his temperature may rise. He cannot always express his need to go to the toilet, and he cannot be left unattended for even a minute," Komarenko said, adding that driving is also dangerous, in case you have a seizure.
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"We can't even run down to the bomb shelters. Most of the time we hide in the hallway of our apartment, in the bathtub or in the toilet," he said.
Vova and her family are among the thousands of families in Kyiv who cannot leave the city for health reasons.
Komarenko runs a charitable foundation called "Z teplom u sertsi" (Ukrainian for "With warmth in the heart").
The group gathers and creates support networks for Kyiv families living with disabilities.
According to Komarenko, only between 20 and 50 of the group's 1,247 families, some 260 people in total, have been able to flee the capital.
The European Disability Forum, a European non-governmental organization, estimates that there are 2.7 million people with disabilities in Ukraine.
According to Inclusion Europe, another NGO, there are some 261,000 people with intellectual disabilities in Ukraine, making them extremely vulnerable to conflict.
The Russian convoy of more than 60 kilometers near Kyiv begins to move.
What does it imply for the capital?
At least 100,000 of them, mostly children, live in residences and institutions.
His chances of leaving the country are slim.
The journey out is long and hard, even for families who do not face the added challenge of disability.
For those with serious health problems, it is almost impossible.
Daryna Chuiska has been trapped near the Polish border with her daughter Vika for several days.
Vika, 10, has cerebral palsy and asthma and desperately needs to resume her physical therapy.
"Vika has been out of rehab for a long time, her condition is deteriorating," Chuiska said.
"She is constantly growing and her muscles are not developing at the same rate, so she is starting to lose progress. She has started to fall when walking and her legs are not developing well, now she has pain in her the legs".
Vika, 10, recently started having seizures, brought on by the stress of traveling out of Ukraine, her mother says.
The journey from her hometown in central Ukraine to the border took days and has been exhausting for Vika.
Her condition has deteriorated.
Mother and daughter spent several days hiding in cellars, where Vika developed a dry cough and shortness of breath.
They slept with their clothes on, listening to the roar of planes overhead.
"At night, Vika started having seizures. The last time she had seizures she was five years old, since then she hasn't had them again," Chuiska said.
She believes that Vika's seizures were triggered by the stress of travel and the musty conditions in some of the basements she stayed in.
Chuiska told CNN that she got Vika a place with a foster family in Germany who will get her the therapy she needs, but they have to get there on their own.
So far, Chuiska has been unable to find transportation.
Vika is severely allergic to cats, which makes it impossible for the two of them to follow the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who took the train to Poland.
"The trains and buses are full of pets, so it's too dangerous for her," Chuiska said.
At one point, she and Vika came very close to crossing the border as they arranged for someone to drive them there in their car.
"But the person stopped answering the phone. There is another option to get to the border and then walk three kilometers, but Vika cannot walk that far," he said.
Another person also offered to give her a ride, but only if she wired him money in advance.
Chuiska, worried that she was a scam, refused.
For now, they remain close to the border, looking for a safe exit.
Vika and Daryna Chuiska have been unable to go out near the Polish border for days.
we have to survive
Olena Tsarenko, who is also part of the group "Z teplom u sertsi", is one of those who managed to get out.
She fled with her two daughters, her mother and Amour, the family dog.
Tsarenko and other families with disabled children traveled from Kyiv to Warsaw after the invasion began on February 24.
The train trip lasted two days, and then they continued traveling by bus.
Olena Tsarenko (R), with her two daughters Veronika (C) and Mary (L).
Veronika, Tsarenko's 10-year-old daughter, has autism and does not speak.
The only thing she can say is "mama".
To Tsarenko's surprise, Veronika remained relatively calm throughout the trip.
"It was a very hard and exhausting journey and I don't know what happened, but Veronika wasn't crying. But now, all night long, she is crying and she is distraught," he said.
Tsarenko said the decision to leave Kyiv was incredibly hard, and he still feels guilty about it.
"I feel like I should have stayed in Kyiv and worked, but I'm also the only person who can take care of my family, so my mother's instinct tells me please, Olena, you have to save Mary and Vera. But I feel guilty... ... all my friends are there. The people who stay in Ukraine are heroes," he said.
Since she arrived in Warsaw, she has spent her time volunteering, making sandwiches for other refugees stuck at the border and helping to organize aid for other families in the Z teplom u sertsi group.
Veronika is now receiving the medical care and rest she needs.
She cannot express her feelings, but Tsarenko believes that her daughter understands what is happening to her home country.
"Every day he listens to this song called 'We Have to Survive.' listening to this song because it calms her down," she said.
Conflict Russia - UkraineDisplaced