China topped the medal table but second-placed Ukraine proved the most remarkable Winter Paralympics team, performing marvels against a nightmare backdrop.

Ukraine's final day at the Winter Paralympics looked a lot like their first: their athletes claiming gold and dedicating their success to those defending their country from the Russian invasion.

On Sunday, Ukraine's remarkable team capped off a headline-capturing Games as their cross country skiers claimed gold in the open 4x2.5km relay.

It was their 11th gold and 29th medal overall.

Incredibly, Ukraine's team of 20 athletes and nine sighted guides topped the medal tally on the opening day and by Games' end, was second only to hosts China, despite having to compete amid the stress of following the invasion from afar.

When Anatolii Kovalevskyi took over in the fourth leg of Sunday's relay, Ukraine were fourth.

He took them to gold.

"I saw how my partners in this race worked together. I saw how Ukrainian people are fighting for our motherland," he said.

"So I couldn't be worse than the others."

It's the type of sentiment that's appeared frequently amid Ukraine's successes, with many athletes echoing Ukrainian Paralympic Committee president Valeriy Sushkevych in considering the Paralympics their own front line.

It was a medal haul, on the back of biathlon and cross country skiing triumphs, helped by the expulsion of Russian athletes, who with their Belarusian counterparts looked set to compete as neutral athletes, before a late backflip saw them banned.

But for athletes caught between worrying for home and attempting to compete, it was an incredible display of grit, skill and mental fortitude.

Dmytro Suiarko, for instance, noted in claiming bronze in the middle distance vision impaired biathlon that he missed twice because his house "was bombed and destroyed".

Meanwhile Anastasiia Laletina withdrew from her middle-distance biathlon event because her father, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, was captured by Russian troops.

"We must win for our country, and Ukrainians must win this war today," Grygorii Vovchynskyi said after the relay.

"This is for life after the Paralympic Games. Today, what's more important is life in Ukraine, life in the world, peace in the world, no war in the world. We are here for it.

"It means we want to come back to Ukraine, we want to stop war in Ukraine. We want life in Ukraine. We want our children walking outside in the park.

"This is like a union of all the Ukrainian people here. On this podium will be all of Ukraine together.

"It's fantastic work, everyone is like one. Together we are so strong. Our nation, so strong. Our president, so strong. We aren't afraid of fighting."

It's unclear what's next for Ukraine's Paralympians, beyond reported plans to initially head to Poland, with IPC president Andrew Parsons unwilling to "disclose plans" because of concerns it could impact their security.

On Saturday, Parsons expressed "solidarity" with the Ukrainians and pledged to "take the best decisions to protect them and support them."

"It's beyond what I can think ... to compete here at such a high level knowing their family and nation is under attack is just incredible," he said.

"It's one of the most incredible displays of resilience I've ever seen in my life, in or outside of sport."