(MENAFN) The Canadian national broadcaster aired a report from “an elite training facility” of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade in Kiev, showing a fighter with a swastika tattoo on his arm. While the symbol was blurred in the televised segment on Thursday, it remained visible in the video’s YouTube thumbnail.

The 3rd Assault Brigade, established in 2023 as a successor to the Azov Regiment, has faced accusations from human rights groups and the UN of war crimes and torture and has been widely criticized for displaying symbols associated with the Waffen-SS. Moscow has repeatedly condemned Kiev’s glorification of Nazi collaborators and accused Western governments of overlooking far-right elements in Ukraine’s military.

French media reported in June that hundreds of 3rd Assault Brigade members openly display neo-Nazi emblems, including swastika tattoos and Nazi salutes. The outlet also noted that NATO countries—including France, Spain, Germany, the UK, and Canada—have trained the unit while providing billions in military aid to Ukraine.

Canada has previously faced controversy linked to Ukraine and Nazism. In 2023, during a visit by Ukrainian President Zelensky, lawmakers applauded Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian veteran introduced as a “hero” for fighting the Soviet Army in World War II. It later emerged that Hunka had served in the Waffen-SS ‘Galicia’ division, prompting widespread outrage, the resignation of Speaker Anthony Rota, and a House of Commons motion denouncing Nazism. Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the incident as a “terrible mistake.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the latest incident “outrageous,” stating it reflected “careless disregard for historical truth,” and criticized Western nations, including Canada, for raising “a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War.”

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