The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons announced his resignation on Tuesday after the scandal caused by the commemoration of a Ukrainian veteran who fought alongside the Nazis during World War II during a visit by President Volodymyr Zelensky, AFP reports.

Yaroslav Hunka is waiting in the Canadian House of Commons for the arrival of Volodymyr ZelenskyiPhoto: Doyle Patrick/CP/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

“It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform members of Parliament of my resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons,” Anthony Rota told parliament, speaking of his “deep regret for this mistake”.

Also on Tuesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said Tuesday that the Speaker of the House of Commons should resign, but he initially refused.

Last Friday, during the visit of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi Rota, he called the veteran a war hero, a Ukrainian emigrant.

But former military man Yaroslav Hunka, 98 years old, who was twice given a standing ovation by the deputies, turned out to have served in one of Adolf Hitler’s SS Waffen units during World War II. Russia called the incident scandalous.