White House announces massive military package for Ukraine as hurricane victims struggle to put lives back together in the South

News Analysis

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Ukraine will receive $425 million in financial and military aid after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Biden Sept. 26 at the White House to press for more support to end his country’s war with Russia. 

The United States has provided Ukraine with more than $64.1 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and approximately $66.9 billion in military assistance since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, according to the U.S. State Department.

The United States has used the emergency Presidential Drawdown Authority on 55 occasions since August 2021 to provide Ukraine military assistance totaling approximately $31.7 billion from Department of Defense stockpiles. Presidential Drawdown Authority, authorized in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, enables a president to direct the drawdown of military equipment from U.S. military stocks to respond to foreign crises.

President Biden spoke by phone Wednesday to President Zelenskyy about the security package, which includes additional air defense capability, air-to-ground munitions, armored vehicles and other weapons, the White House announced.

“In the coming months, the United States will provide Ukraine with a range of additional capabilities, including hundreds of air defense interceptors, dozens of tactical air defense systems, additional artillery systems, significant quantities of ammunition, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of additional armored vehicles, all of which will help to equip Ukraine’s armed forces,” the statement said.

President Biden announced he will also host a virtual meeting in November of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, where leaders will coordinate with international partners on additional assistance for Ukraine. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is an alliance of 57 countries and the European Union collectively supporting Ukraine to bring an end to the war. The countries have given extensive humanitarian, financial and military aid to Ukraine. To date, the United States has supplied the most military aid.

Former President Donald Trump has stated that if he wins the election Nov. 5th that one of his first steps will be to bring a rapid end to the Ukraine-Russia war and discontinue hemorrhaging American tax dollars for the foreign war.

Victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, relief workers, and politicians have been highly critical about Biden’s handling of the two devastating hurricanes that have ravaged Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Helene hit first on Sept. 26, followed by Milton on Oct. 9.

Helene’s largest impacts were across the southern Appalachians where widespread severe and unprecedented flooding occurred with hundreds of fatalities and billions in property damage. Strong wind gusts damaged property and blew trees and power lines down in a swath from the Gulf Coast to the North Carolina mountains.

A new Serious Needs Assistance Program was rolled out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security in January 2024 which applies to disasters after March 2024. It allows American citizens to apply for assistance and covers money to pay for emergency supplies like water, food, first aid, breast-feeding supplies, infant formula, diapers, personal hygiene items and fuel for transportation. 

It does not cover emergency shelter or housing needs and individuals receive only $750 per household. Politicians have been highly critical of this program due to the low amount it offers each household and in recognition of the fact that people can’t apply if they don’t have phones, electricity or access to a computer in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic storm.

FEMA does offer other types of financial assistance, but only after FEMA verifies disaster-related damage through an onsite or remote inspection. With roads being washed out, extensive flooding and downed trees making access to people difficult, storm victims were in a state of shock and survival and ill-equipped to deal with FEMA requirements such as inspections and applications.

FEMA states that once an individual submits an application for assistance, “FEMA staff or an inspector will call multiple times over several days to schedule a time to complete your inspection. If FEMA is unable to reach you regarding your inspection, you will be sent a letter. Please follow the instructions in the letter for contacting FEMA and scheduling your inspection. Your application cannot be processed further until you take the appropriate steps based on the letter.”

When mail delivery cannot occur in storm-damaged areas, many ask how a letter would help. 

Among the financial assistance programs are emergency food assistance, unemployment benefits, mortgage assistance, home repair loans and small business loans, but not without repayment in some circumstances.

“If you have insurance that covers your temporary housing costs, but ask FEMA to advance you some money to help you pay for those costs while your insurance is delayed, you will need to pay that money back to FEMA after you receive your insurance settlement,” FEMA stated on its site.

The stark contrast between billions of dollars being given to a foreign ally without any repayment obligations and delivering military equipment overseas overnight or within a few days compared to the little that has been offered to American citizens who have lost not only their homes but their communities to devastating storms is casting a spotlight on priorities in the Biden Administration.

One official said, “FEMA does not make anybody whole after a disaster happens. They are not going to give you enough money to completely recover your life.” The question is, should it?