His father wanted Yuri to inherit Rostov and his elder brother Konstantin to succeed him in Vladimir.

[1] Before his death, grand prince Vsevolod divided his territories between his sons; as soon as he died in 1212, the Vladimir-Suzdal war of succession (1212–1216) broke out between them.

When the Mongols first approached Russia in 1223, he sent a small unit against them, but it arrived too late to take part in the disastrous Battle of the Kalka River in May 1223.

His wife Agatha (Mikhail of Kiev's sister) and all his family died in Vladimir when the Assumption Cathedral where they had sought refuge from the fire collapsed in February 1238.

[2] Yuri himself was killed on 4 March 1238, in the Battle of the Sit River, when vast Mongol hordes defeated the army of Vladimir-Suzdal.