Russia has said it was "outrageous" that a Ukrainian man who served in one of Adolf Hitler's units during World War II had been presented to Canada's parliament last week as a hero.

Yaroslav Hunka, 98, received two standing ovations from Canadian politicians during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The speaker of Canada's parliament has since apologised to Jewish groups for the incident.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday the episode showed a careless disregard for historical truth, and that the memory of Nazi crimes must be preserved.

"Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous," Peskov told reporters.

"Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War. And they know nothing about the threat of fascism."

Canadian parliament speaker Anthony Rota introduced Hunka as "a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians" and "a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero".

'Irreconcilable fight'

During World War II, when Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, some Ukrainian nationalists joined Nazi units because they saw the Germans as liberators from Soviet oppression.

Hunka served in World War II as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, according to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group that demanded and received an apology from Rota.

Peskov told reporters that Russia was waging an "irreconcilable fight" against fascism that was "trying to find its feet in the centre of Europe, in Ukraine".