Myroslav (Mirko) Petriw presented an introduction to Russian-Ukrainian relations dating from the medieval period to the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1918. More recently, he described Russian/Soviet imperialism and Russian aggression against Ukrainian statehood. He concluded by tracing the root causes of the present war in Ukraine against the invasion by the Russian Federation. This presentation is of special interest to members who wish to learn more about the differences between Ukrainian and Russian historical traditions.

Born in Munich, Myroslav Petriw came to Canada as the child of post-war immigrant refugees. He is a product of Toronto’s vibrant Ukrainian community and a graduate of Kursy Ukrayinoznavstva imeni Hryhoria Skovorody, After graduating from the University of Toronto, he worked with Ford Motor Co. as a mechanical engineer from 1973-2007. Mirko wrote the Ukrainian language novel Skarb Yaroslava (winner of the Anna Pidruchny award for new writers) in 2003. He completed his English language novels Yaroslaw’s Treasure in 2009 and Yaroslaw’s Revenge in 2012. He has been a Ukrainian community activist serving as a 2004 election observer in Ukraine and holding positions in the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC)

A video recording of Myroslaw’s Webinar presentation can be found here.  We also have recordings of the Introductory and Closing segments from that evening.

Information on how to order Myroslav’s books can be found here. Myroslav has also provided answers to questions raised by attendees, as well as providing links to further reference material.

© Myroslav Petriw 2026. All rights reserved. No images or content from this presentation may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the presenter. Access to this recording is solely for educational and informational purposes.