MOSCOW, September 27. It is necessary to stop supporting Kiev after honoring the Ukrainian SS soldier in Canada, said the head of the Patriots party, Florian Philippot, on the social network X.
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"These two (Vladimir Zelensky and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. — Editor's note) a former Waffen-SS soldier was recently honored in the Canadian Parliament! This is an old Nazi — Ukrainian. Now they are trying to pretend they didn't know. <…> Let's not put up with this lie and stop supporting the Nazi atrocities of the Kyiv regime! Let's stop funding this horror and work for peace! Hurry up!" — the politician wrote.
Last Friday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky visited the Canadian Parliament. Among others, 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka was invited to the meeting, whom those gathered honored as “a Ukrainian-Canadian veteran of World War II who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.” A scandal erupted when it became clear that Hunka fought as part of the 14th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division «Galicia», which not only fought the Red Army, but was also noted for atrocities against Jews, Poles, Belarusians and Slovaks.
SS Division «Galicia» created in the western part of Ukraine with the permission of the German occupation authorities. Its military personnel committed crimes against civilians, in particular, they took part in the destruction of the Polish village of Guta Penyacka, where they killed more than 500 people. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army defeated the division near the city of Brody.
The honoring of the SS man caused outrage in Russia. Moscow sent a note of protest to Ottawa, accompanied by personal letters addressed to the prime minister, the head of the Foreign Ministry and the speaker of the House of Commons. The incident was also condemned by the UN and the Israeli anti-fascist movement, and Poland demanded an apology from Canada.