On September 22 this year, a Ukrainian WWII veteran was given a standing ovation in the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Yaroslav Hunka, aged 98, was considered a “war hero” for fighting for the independence of Ukraine as a country in WWII. However, it was soon found out that he was a Nazi. This made people furious about the tribute made to Hunka by the Ukrainian President.
Hunka did fight against the Soviet Union, but as a part of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a major parliamentary organization under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. SS stands for Schutzstaffel, directly translated to “Protection Squad” in German. The SS are known to have committed crimes against humanity during the Holocaust.
A Canadian human rights group claimed it was “horrified” by the recognition given to Hunka in Parliament and his ovation in the Canadian capital. The Commons speaker for the Canadian House of Commons, Rota, hinted that Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy had no knowledge of Hunka’s Nazi background. Zelenskyy’s relatives themselves were killed in the Holocaust.
One of the justifications Putin gave for invading Ukraine was that he aimed to “de-nazify” it. He claimed that Ukraine is being run by Neo-Nazis in the West. Very little evidence is there to back this up. However, Russian officials quickly caught on to the soldier’s rousing recognition in the Canadian House of Commons and Parliament. They state that this is “proof” of Ukraine’s far-right alignments. The Russian ambassador to Canada claims that inviting Hunka to Parliament was not an accident.
