Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized on behalf of the country for inviting a veteran of the SS Galicia Division, which fought on the side of Hitler's troops in World War II, to parliament, CBC reports.

In a press statement, Trudeau expressed deep regret that he and other members of parliament "stood and applauded" 98-year-old SS Galicia veteran Yaroslav Hunko.

"It was a terrible outrage to the memory of the millions of people who died during the Holocaust," he said, adding that honoring Hunko was particularly offensive to Jews, Poles, Roma, the LGBT community and other groups who were exterminated by the Nazi regime during World War II.

Trudeau also emphasized that "Canada deeply sympathizes" with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also applauded Hunko during his visit to parliament.


As we reported earlier, the Canadian parliament condemned Nazism in all its manifestations after an incident involving the honoring of an SS Galicia veteran, which was attended by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Justin Trudeau.