ongoing with ukrainian plant workers working under russian the point of a gun of russian troops. how i mean, as you see this, how concerning is this situation at this plant, the largest in europe? well, the situation that plant is certainly concerning. the latest update i ve seen is that five of the six reactors at the site have now bun shut down. one of the reactors is operating at lower power. though that information is f hours old at this point. even when a reactor has been shut down, the fuel within its core still needs cooling. it is not in a safe state for sometime yet. and it is imperative that the workers at the plant be able to do their jobs, they re not forced to work hours beyond which they cease to become effective decision-makers.
in reducing the global supply of energy. the immediate effect would be to raise prices at the pump for americans. and also to pad russian profits with rising prices. so we ve been carving out payments for energy trade and transport from the sanctions that we ve been inlaying but we have a strong interest in degrading russia s status as a leading energy supplier over time. this is a profound shift. that is why nord stream 2 was shut down. that is why we re surging lng to europe right now. to help accelerate its diversification away from russian gas. it is why we re denying critical technologies to russia for further energy exploration going forward through the export controls we put in place. this is part of a process to reduce reliance, dependence on russian energy. so, that is where our focus is. but again as i said, we re
to that. because it requires not only a readiness if you impose a no-fly zone over all of ukraine, a readiness for nato to shoot down russian planes, but also to protect the nato planes that are carrying out that no-fly zone, that has to be readyiness to strike ground based air deeft assets not only with the russian invading forces in ukraine, but also an occupied crimea, belarus and russian proper. and i think that gets to pretty close to an all-out shooting war which it seems to me that nato wishes to avoid. yeah, certainly. steven piper, and natasha bertrand, thank you so much. i want to go to talk more about the situation in the ukrainian power plant joining me is james actin, codirector of the program at carnegie endowment for international peace. james, we know that operations at the plant are said to be
we ve been doing, the support for ukraine is real, profound, extensive, the security assistance that we just talked about, that continues to go in. the humanitarian support that we continue to build and in response to the humanitarian horror that russia has wrought as well as economic assistance. unfortunately this is not like flipping a light switch. it takes time and when you haven t in the case of russia, and president putin s russia, a country that is prepared to go to excessive means to achieve its results, it is a real challenge. but not only are we at it every day, i think the ukrainian people could see is virtually the entire world united in support of them, in support of their cause, in independence, terri territorial integrity and freedom by the meetings today
and we are. thank you, secretary. are you considering energy sanctions against russia because realistically, how could the west defeat putin in ukraine when the west also pays putin up to $700 million a day in oil, gas and coal. and i know the british foreign minister talked about it, how britain is looking into it. are you? first, as a general proposition, nothing is off the table and we re evaluating every single day the sanctions, their implementation and additional measures. the sanctions that are designed in the first instance of course to have maximum impact on russia and putin. while minimizing harm to us and our allies and partners. there is no strategic interest