Stepan Vytvytskyi was born on 13 March 1884, in the village of Uhornyky, near to the city of Stanislawow, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in Austria-Hungary (now in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Western Ukraine).

During his years as a student, Vytvytskyi was the head of Academic Hromada in Lviv and the organization Sich in Vienna.

For some time, Vytvytskyi headed the secretary of foreign affairs in the government of ZUNR in exile in Vienna.

In 1921−1923, he headed the ZUNR mission in Paris and London, persuading the governments of these countries (France, United Kingdom) to recognize the occupation of the eastern territory of Galicia by Poland, and help with the re-establishment of its independence.

After the death of Andriy Livytskyi in 1954, Stepan Vytvytskyi was elected as the president of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile.