The first documented contacts between the people of Scandinavia and the Slavic territories of Ukraine are the Varangian journeys to what they called Garðaríki.

[2] According to the Normanist theory, the Kievan Rus is thought to have adopted its name from the Varangian elite, which was first mentioned in the 830s in the Annals of Saint Bertan.

After the 1656 peace in Vilnius between Muscovy and Poland Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky was infuriated and wrote to the tsar Alexis I of Russia: The Swedes are the honest people; when they pledge friendship and alliance, they honor their word.

[3] Even after the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654 Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky continued to negotiate with the Swedes and in late 1655 his ambassador made proposals to the Swedish king Charles X Gustav to accept Ukraine as a Swedish vassal state and promised him the faithful service of the entire Zaporozhian Host.

[5][6] During the Great Northern War Sweden and Hetman Ivan Mazepa formed an alliance in 1708 against Peter I of Russia.

After several unsuccessful raids into Ukraine Hetman Pylyp Orlyk together with several other cossacks followed the Swedish king Charles XII to Sweden in 1716.

Hetman Pylyp Orlyk with his wife Hanna Hertsyk and seven children now lived in the city of Kristianstad for some years.

Among the other Ukrainian refugees that resided in Kristianstad and Stockholm 1716–1720 can be mentioned Ivan Mazepa's nephew Andriy Voynarovskyi's wife Hanna Myrovych, General Osaul Hryhory Hertsyk, Ivan Hertsyk, judge general Klyment Dolhopoly, Fedir Myrovych, Fedir Tretiak and an orthodox priest named Parfeniy.

Pylyp Orlyk and his family left Stockholm in 1720 but as late as 1747 his widow and children received financial support from the Riksdag of Sweden.

[9] During and after World War II about 2500 Ukrainian refugees made their way to Sweden, although many of them continued to the US and Canada in fear of being extradited to the Soviet Union.

Analysts for western media speculate that the defense budget increase would encourage both Sweden and neighboring Finland, the former of which has traditionally been neutral, to join NATO, which has only been supported by new polls showing a newfound majority of Swedes support their country joining the military alliance and that both countries have participated alongside NATO in recent military exercises.

[14] Swedish banks have in recent years started to show a growing interest in the expanding Ukrainian economy.

[17][18] The Swedish furniture retail giant IKEA has for many years planned to open its own store and MEGA shopping mall in Kyiv, similar to the ones in Moscow, but has been delayed due to a dispute over land.