A highly controversial monument to a division of Ukrainian volunteers who served for the Nazis in World War II has been removed from an Ontario cemetery, though it might be coming back.

Video posted to social media on Friday shows the removal of the monument to the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, which was installed within the West Oak Memorial Gardens of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville.

While the division of mostly Ukrainian volunteers did indeed participate in several atrocities and war crimes in service of the Nazis, the poster characterized the removal of the monument as a move "to please the Russians in Canada" amid the third year of Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

In Canada, a monument to the first Ukrainian Division Galicia was demolished in a cemetery near Toronto to please the Russians in Canada. pic.twitter.com/qGpN9wnNuS

— Mykhailo Rohoza (@MykhailoRohoza) March 8, 2024

The monument was erected in 1988 to honour the First Ukrainian Division and has generated controversy for decades leading up to its removal. Already a sensitive topic, it has been under increased scrutiny in the years since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Organizations like Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) have criticized the monument and issued a statement about its removal over the weekend.

“This memorial honoured and glorified individuals who served in a Nazi military unit and were complicit in war crimes committed during the Holocaust, ultimately distorting Holocaust history,” said Dan Panneton, Director of Allyship and Community Engagement with FSWC

Some in the Ukrainian community have also spoken out against the monument for its bolstering of anti-Ukrainian war propaganda that paints Ukrainians as Nazis, while others have actually defended the monument.

One person seemingly on board with this Nazi monument is Mykhailo Rohoza, who posted the above video showing the removal of the stone installation on social media.

Rohoza later posted screenshots of an email exchange with the cemetery, which explains that the monument was removed for restoration and will be returned to its former location. A few commenters have reacted to this news, including users slamming the cemetery for glorifying Nazis.

‘Its rightful place’ would be the trash heap of history along w every other monument to Nazis.

— Max (@Justmax360) March 10, 2024

While monuments like these have indeed been used by Russian propagandists to paint Ukraine as a nation of Nazis, the facts remain that, despite some bad apples, Ukraine is a country with a democratically-elected leader of Jewish background — details conveniently absent from the pro-Russian narrative.