Canada’s recognition in parliament of Canadian-Ukrainian World War II veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who fought on the side of the Nazis, sparked public outrage in September 2023. Pro-Russian social media accounts seized the moment, alleging that Ukraine had released a postage stamp to immortalise Hunka. But the claim is false: AFP Fac found that the barcode on the stamp belongs to another series of Ukrainian stamps. Ukraine’s national postal service also confirmed the Hunka stamp does not exist.

"The Ukrainian Postal Service is now issuing stamps with the face of the WW2 Wafen SS Nazi Galicia cretin Yaroslav Hunko while Poland will seek his extradition from Canada," reads a post shared on Facebook on September 27, 2023.

A screenshot of the false post, taken on October 17, 2023

The post also labels Ukraine and Poland "Nazi regimes".

It includes what looks like a postage stamp with a barcode in the top right corner, an image of an elderly man and the caption "Heroes don’t die".

The account that published the claim in Africa is notorious for its Russian bias and for sharing disinformation, including here and here. The same claim appeared in other languages including Polish, Bulgarian, Russian, French and Dutch.

It also circulated on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram here, here and here.

War crimes accusations

The Canadian parliament honoured Hunka, 98, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited in September.

The SS-Galizien Division, in which he served during World War II,...

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