H.E. Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia & New Zealand, will Address the National Press Club of Australia on “Russia’s War on Ukraine: An Alternative Narrative”.
On 11 February, an address to the National Press Club will examine why Russia’s war against Ukraine matters far beyond Europe — including for Australia’s long-term security, economic interests, and strategic environment. At the same time, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia will challenge many assumptions on which the West’s approach to the war on Ukraine rests and address the rhetorical question: is modern Russia more myth than superpower?
Nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war has become a defining test of the rules-based international order. Ukraine now stands on the frontline of a broader confrontation with authoritarian revisionism, with profound implications for international law, energy security, global supply chains, and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
The address will explore how the conflict is reshaping global security dynamics, the ongoing challenge of Russian energy products in international markets, and what these developments mean for Australia as a middle power reliant on international law and secure trade routes.
At the same time, the Ambassador will explore whether there the evidence – in Russia’s economy, military and even nuclear capability – dictates current strategies to merely contain Russia, or a shift to a more strategic and assertive approach.
This discussion comes at a critical moment for informed public debate about the global consequences of the war — and the precedents being set today that will shape Australia’s strategic environment for decades to come.
BIO
Vasyl Myroshnychenko resumed the functions of the Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia on April 1, 2022.
He briefly served as an Advisor to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine in March-April of 2022.
Between May 2021 and July 2022, Vasyl served as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Institute, a cultural diplomacy outfit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he was an active business and civil society leader in Ukraine. From 2006 to 2022, he was a Partner at CFC Big Ideas, a Kyiv-based strategic communications company. He has 20 years of experience advising clients on corporate communications, public affairs and reputation management. Vasyl advised many multinational companies and domestic industry leaders across various sectors. Vasyl is a co-founder of Ukraine Crisis Media Center, a media NGO set up in early March of 2014 aimed at amplifying Ukraine’s voice internationally. He was in charge of numerous projects and campaigns during 2014-2019. In 2015-2016, he was a Head of Board of Professional Government Association, an NGO which has united Ukrainian alumni of the Western Universities with a goal of mobilizing talent for the economic, legal and judicial reforms in Ukraine. In 2018, Vasyl was a Marshall Memorial Fellow, a prestigious leadership program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
He was a Chevening Scholar and earned MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2006, UK). He also holds MA and BA degrees in international relations from Institute of International Relations, Kyiv National Shevchenko University (2002, 2003).
Vasyl has two children and is married to Liana Myroshnychenko.
