Yaroslav Hunka, the former Nazi SS officer whose invitation to Canada's Parliament by Justin Trudeau sparked an international scandal six months ago, has been awarded a state honour by the regional council of Ternopil, a province in Western Ukraine.

The award, named after Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Yaroslav Stetsko, was given to Hunka last week for "significant personal contribution to providing assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, active charitable and public activities", according to the Ukrainian news service Suspilne. The announcement didn't specify if Hunka's contribution was his recent political fiasco in Ottawa or his work with the Nazi SS during the 1940s. Ternopil had a significant Jewish population until 1943 when the Nazis and their collaborators murdered thousands of Jews, and sent thousands more to death camps in Poland.

While Hunka himself did not attend the awards ceremony in person, Ternopil politician Oleg Syrotyuk presented the award to Hunka's grand-niece Olga Vitkovksa, suggesting that the family still takes pride in their Nazi past.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that one of his reasons for invading Ukraine was to root out Nazis, a claim disputed by Ukraine.


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