Hurricane Helene Used To Stoke Misleading Anti-Ukraine Content Online

The disaster caused by Hurricane Helene is being used to drum up resentment against U.S. spending in Ukraine, accusing the White House of providing “no more aid” and neglecting American citizens.
Multiple posts on social media over the weekend have tried to portray a gulf between domestic and international aid as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee deal with the catastrophe.
After making landfall in Florida, where tidal storm surges battered buildings, it then traveled north, hitting Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as impacting parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky.
At least 64 people have been killed by the storm, according to the Associated Press.
As work continues to support those affected by the disaster, some have tried to tie the U.S. government’s response to the crisis with Ukraine, suggesting little to nothing has been provided for those suffering along the storm’s path.
One post viewed 2.8 million times on X, formerly Twitter, by the conservative account @EndWokeness, which Newsweek’s Fact Check team has previously investigated for misleading content about Ukraine, said: “‘$2.4 billion aid to Ukraine’ vs ‘No more aid for Hurricane Helene’ – 3 days apart.”
The post included a video of Biden announcing Ukrainian aid and, speaking on Sunday, that there were no more resources the federal government could be giving, telling ABC News, “We have pre-planned a significant amount, even though they didn’t ask for it yet—hadn’t asked for it yet,” Biden said Sunday.
Another post by account @ShadowofEzra, viewed 1.5 million times said: “The United States has allocated over $16 billion to support Ukraine and Israel, leaving its own citizens feeling neglected and abandoned.”
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh also wrote: “Unfortunately the North Carolina flood victims are citizens of the USA, not Ukraine, so the Biden Administration sees no reason to help them.”
The social media posts and videos suggest that federal aid for those caught in the recent disaster’s path has been held back while Ukrainian support has been easily extended, a misleading description.
On Saturday, the White House ordered federal aid to supplement local efforts in Florida and North Carolina including grants for temporary housing and home repairs. This assistance, a White House statement said, may also include funds to help with essential items such as food and water.
Before the hurricane’s landfall, the White House said it approved emergency declaration requests from the Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, authorizing FEMA “to provide assistance for emergency measures to save lives, protect property, public health and safety, and fund other emergency response measures.”
Around 1,500 Federal personnel were deployed, with support from the U.S. Court Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Health and Human Services with millions of meals, and trucks with tens of thousands of gallons of fuels pre-positioned.
How that support is administrated and any issues that result from it remain to be seen. Still, the claim that the federal government is not providing aid or funding toward the crisis, is not well supported.
The stop-gap funding bill, approved last week, which prevented a government shutdown, included $20 billion in funding toward FEMA. However, a report by Politico suggested that “hawkish” Congressional politicians had stripped the agreement of nearly all its supplemental funding including money for FEMA. A previous version of the funding bill, which included additional funding for FEMA, was defeated by Republicans, reported CNN.
By contrast, while funding allocations that have supported Ukraine’s fight against Russia are valued at more than $80 billion according to financial analysts, there are differences between the supply of FEMA aid and that to Ukraine.
According to the Kiel Institute, which has tracked funding allocations from Western nations to Ukraine, the United States has made $80 billion in financial, humanitarian, and military allocations from January 24, 2022, to June 30, 2024.
President Biden announced $8 billion in military assistance on Thursday in what is likely to be the last package he greenlights before leaving office.
It came before the end of the U.S. fiscal year on Monday, September 30, when $5.9 billion in funding for Ukraine was set to expire.
Biden said he had authorized $5.5 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to transfer defense money from the U.S. Department of Defense to foreign countries without the need for congressional approval for each transfer.
A further $2.4 billion has been allocated through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which will provide Ukraine with more air defense, unmanned aerial systems, and air-to-ground munitions, as well as strengthen Ukraine’s defense industry.
As stated in a 2024 analysis by The Lawfare Institute, most of Ukrainian funding does not go directly to Ukraine. Much remains in the United States through the production of weapons and equipment with other funding delivered in equivalent value through training, personnel, and existing equipment.
Furthermore, funding toward Ukraine has been the subject of significant scrutiny and delay, with House Republican opposition causing billions in new aid to Kyiv to be delayed for months.
Spending on the war in Ukraine has been quoted by hawks and conservatives as a way to attack the Biden administration’s policy decisions, arguing there has been a lack of domestic investment contrary to that which has been provided to Kyiv.
This has, in some cases, led to false claims about the amounts being spent and how funding has been used. Persistent false rumors have dogged Ukrainian President Volyodmyr Zelensky, as he’s been accused of spending millions on luxury properties.