Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized on Wednesday after the former speaker of the House of Commons praised a Nazi veteran during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Reuters reported.

Trudeau said he was particularly sorry for the awkward situation Zelensky found himself in. “This was a very shameful mistake for Parliament and for Canada. All of us, who were here in the hall on Friday, deeply regret that we stood and applauded, even if we did not know the context,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the press, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Former Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Anthony Rota congratulated 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant and Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka in Parliament on Friday and introduced him as a “Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero” who fought “for the independence of Ukraine against the Russians.”

However, Anthony Rotha did not know that the said veteran had fought in the SS forces responsible for crimes against humanity in the Second World War.

After that, the Canadian politician apologized for what happened, took full responsibility for the incident and resigned.

Russia used the incident to reinforce its thesis that the war in Ukraine should lead to the “denazification” of that country, an idea that Kyiv and the West consider baseless.

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The Kremlin, in turn, demands the trial of Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who was applauded in the Canadian parliament. “Clearly a Nazi”