Candace Owens is spreading a baseless and harmful claim that the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went on a spendy €40,000 spree in Paris.

Claims like this catch fire on social media and this one, which began earlier this week are no exception. Owens’s comment has been found to be without merit, but even so, it’s being used to criticize Zelenskyy and undermine his attempts to gain further aid from the U.S. in order to fight Russia’s invasion of his embattled country, Mediaite reports.

Leading right-wingers like Owens and Tucker Carlson are dead-set against the U.S. sending additional money to Ukraine and have branded its citizens as grifters. This is sad; the country is in the middle of a perilous winter and many of its citizens have lost their homes. It’s completely awful that right-wingers are spreading this nonsense.

But tragedies like this are not part of Owens’s purview. As host of the Candace Owens Podcast for the Daily Wire, she responded to Zelenskyy’s speech by accusing him of “stealing from our people,” while his wife, Olena Zelenska dropped “tens of thousands of dollars shopping in Paris.”

We want nothing to do with you. Stop stealing from our people while your wife drops tens of thousands of dollars shopping in Paris.

Despicable. https://t.co/79i7WS4yQD

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) December 21, 2022

Owens posted the tweet before Zelenskyy’s speech in front of Congress. It has received more than 772,000 views, and while it remains on the platform, Twitter has added additional context, noting “There is no evidence that Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska went on a shopping spree during her diplomatic trip to Paris.”

Rumors surrounding Olena Zelenska’s purported spending spree have been circulating across Twitter and are being pushed by numerous influential right-wing accounts. As you might suspect, these accounts are using these baseless claims to argue against sending more aid to Ukraine.

I’m glad that we are sending billions of our tax money so Zelensky’s wife can go on $42,500 shopping spree in Paris.

Fuck Zelensky and his corrupt regime and everyone who supports them.

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) December 15, 2022

French social media has been buzzing about a $40,000 Paris shopping spree by Olena Zelenska, the wife of Volodymyr Zelensky

Zelensky will reportedly be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to appeal for billions more from US taxpayers https://t.co/rUQ6saqiHJ

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 21, 2022

One of the earliest Twitter accounts to spread this rumor claimed Zelenska blew €40,000 in an hour-long spending spree at a store on L’Avenue Montaigne, a street famous for its luxurious stores.

L’épouse de Mr Zelensky, Olena Zelenska, de passage à Paris aujourd’hui, aurait dépensé 40000€ lors d’un passage d’1h dans un magasin de l’Avenue Montaigne… (Source fiable : Employée du magasin en question en charge de l’encaissement des clients). pic.twitter.com/LI0gebySn2

— De Fabron Olivier (@DeFabron) December 12, 2022

The claim, however, appears to have no supporting evidence. News outlets haven’t reported on the alleged shopping spree, which has been said to have occurred when Zelenska and Ukrainian officials visited Paris earlier this month.

Newsweek has since published an extensive fact check surrounding the claim and found it lacking — mostly chatter with no actual evidence:

“While the claim about Zelenska was picked up by other social media users including conservative voices such as the Gateway Pundit, and hoax news sites, its provenance appears to be extremely murky and lacking in credibility, Newsweek Fact Check found.

Several of the tweets, including those in English and Russian, appeared to feature an image of a news article detailing the ‘story’ of the $40,000 spend.

“While the source is not cited in those tweets, Newsweek found that the screenshotted article, titled ‘Zelensky’s Wife Spent $40,000 Shopping in Paris While Demanding US Give Ukraine Money,” appeared on known hoax news site NewsPunch, widely reported to have disseminated misinformation online.

“NewsPunch, in turn, does not cite sources for the claim other than an embedded tweet by SGM World News.”

Mediaite notes that many of the tweets spreading this claim bear screenshots of alleged news stories but contain no links.

Conservatives like Owens are doing something that is hateful. They certainly aren’t using any logic as they continue to spread a harmful claim that is evidence-free. And as they continue to do this, Ukraine’s innocent civilians continue to suffer.

Shameful.