By Katie Stallard, Russia correspondent, in Murmansk
More than 800,000 refugees have crossed the border into Russia since the start of the year, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).
At least a quarter of a million are thought to be displaced inside Ukraine.
With the country heading to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections, the situation in the east remains dangerously unstable, despite the ceasefire supposedly in place.
Larisa and Evgeniy Golubyatnikova fled the fighting near Donetsk in August with their two children - three-year-old Margarita and her 13-year-old brother Vadim.
They told me their village was surrounded and they could hear shelling close by.
They had to leave so quickly they could only bring the children and a single suitcase.
"Do you like it here in the north?" Larisa asks her daughter.
"I like it in Ukraine," Margarita replies.
"They are shooting there, it is scary," her mother tells her.
The family is living in one room of a college dormitory in the northern city of Murmansk.
Some 72 Ukrainian refugees have been housed here, the youngest of whom is just six months old.
It was the only destination on offer for relocation when they arrived in the crowded refugee camp in Southern Russia this summer, but they decided it was better than staying at the camp.
Within 24 hours they were on board a plane bound for the Arctic.
"We don't have anyone here," Larisa explained, "That is why it is hard and scary.
"I think after a move like this one, nothing can scare us anymore."
Her husband, Evgeniy, added: "The only comfort is that there is a peaceful sky over our head now.
"It was hard, even unbearable to stay there. We did it for our children."
Located north of the Arctic Circle, winters in Murmansk can be tough. For six weeks of the year it will be completely dark, the temperature regularly drops below -20C.
But the family has found warmth amongst the people - volunteers have donated winter clothes and done their best to make them feel welcome.
"Margarita misses her granny, especially after speaking to her on the phone," Larisa told us.
"We told her that we left from where they were shooting, that here it is better here."
Adjusting to their new life in the Arctic has not been easy - the college accommodation is only temporary, and they still need somewhere permanent to stay.
But the family thinks their children will have a better future here than in Ukraine.
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