should be determined at a national referendum. On 19 July 2022, deputies of the Batkivshchyna faction led by Tymoshenko prevented the theft of 264 billion hryvnias from the budget, which Naftogaz of Ukraine was supposed to spend on an opaque scheme for financing the purchase of natural gas for the next heating season. 29 July 2022 the Verkhovna Rada voted for the legislative initiative of Tymoshenko on the creation of a Temporary Special Commission to Investigate the Crisis in the Energy Market of Ukraine. On 29 July during a working visit to Japan, Yulia Tymoshenko discussed the situation in Ukraine with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. On the same day, Tymoshenko spoke at a conference in Tokyo and called for the creation of a new stable security order in the world. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine In late February 2022, French news channel France24 reported that Tymoshenko urged NATO and the United Nations to protect Ukraine by closing Ukrainian airspace and deploying United Nations peacekeeping forces to her country. In early April 2022, Radio Free Europe published further comments by Tymoshenko on the Russian invasion. Reportedly, she stated that "Vladimir Putin deeply believes that he has a historic mission to recreate the Soviet Union"; that this ambition poses a threat to other Eastern European nations; and that “Ukraine's membership in NATO is the most powerful guarantee, second only to having a strong army, which can once and for all stop any attempts by the Russian Federation to seize Ukraine.” On 1 March 2022, Tymoshenko took custody of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital. Tymoshenko donated medicines and essentials to the institution. Tymoshenko also helped to take sick children out of Kyiv and the region to continue treatment and medical care abroad and in the western regions of the country. Tymoshenko created the Center for Humanitarian Aid in the central office of her political party "Batkivshchyna" to help vulnerable groups of the population and the Ukrainian military. On 31 May 2022, Yulia Tymoshenko spoke at the Congress of the European People's Party in Rotterdam. Tymoshenko urged those present to contribute in every possible way to granting Ukraine membership in the EU and NATO. Also during the visit, Tymoshenko discussed with the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakidis the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the issue of global food security. In addition, Tymoshenko discussed the situation in Ukraine with European Commissioner for