this is bbc world news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: president zelensky of ukraine urges europe to remain united in the face of russia's use of energy as an economic weapon — his wife tells the bbc about the continuing impact of the war on the ukranian people. translation: the prices are going up in ukraine i as well, but in addition our people get killed. so when you start counting pennies in your bank account or in your pocket, we do the same and count our casualties. donald trump accuses joe biden of being the real enemy of the state, days after the president branded him a threat

to american democracy. the most vicious and divisive speech ever delivered to the people. he's an enemy of the state. you want to know the truth? the enemy of the state is him and the group that control him. chile prepares to go to the polls in a referendum on replacing the constitution, inherited from the pinochet dictatorship. and nasa calls off the planned launch of its new moon rocket for the second time in a week. officials say it's likely there won't be another launch attempt for several weeks. hello and welcome to bbc news. the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelensky, has called for greater european unity in response to russia's use of energy as a weapon. speaking a day after moscow said it would not restart gas exports through the nord stream one pipeline, mr zelensky said russia aimed to intimidate and weaken

all of europe and was trying to inflict poverty and political chaos in places it can't yet strike with missiles. ukraine's first lady, olena zelenska, has been speaking to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg. in an interview recorded in kyiv, mrs zelenska said the economic impact of the war in ukraine may be tough on its allies but although britons are having to count pennies, ukrainians are counting casualties. translation: we hear that energy is getting pricier, - that life's getting pricier, but people should understand that that is not coming through the west's support to ukraine, but through the actions of russia. there is no comparison to the suffering of people here, but at home, in the united kingdom, as you acknowledge, people are facing very painful choices because of the soaring cost of energy that's going to make things very tough for people.

what would you say to our viewers watching at home who feel desperately sorry for what's happening to your people, but also who feel desperately worried about their own ability to pay their bills to keep a roof over their head, what would you say to them? translation: well, of course i understand that the situation | is very tough. but let me recall in the time of the covid—i9 epidemic, and it's still with us, when there were price hikes. ukraine is affected as well. the prices are going up in ukraine as well. but in addition our people get killed. so when you start counting pennies in your bank account or in your pocket, we do the same and count our casualties. these days a woman was killed walking in a park in kharkiv, many people were injured. if the support is strong, this period will be shorter. and viewers in the uk can watch that full interview at 9am on sunday with laura kuenessberg on bbc one.

she'll also bejoined by both liz truss and rishi sunak ahead of the conservative leadership result. ukrainian families living close to europe's largest nuclear power plant say they are living in fear, despite the arrival of un monitors from the iaea at the site. both russia and ukraine accuse each other of shelling the plant, prompting fears of a nuclear accident. our security correspondent, frank gardner, reports now from the nearby city of zaporizhzhia. under police escort, more than 100 ukrainian civilians make it ioo ukrainian civilians make it to safety after going through six months of fear and insecurity. just on the edge of zaporizhzhia city, we came across this convoy of around a0 vehicles, streaming out of russian held territory to the site. why are they leaving? mostly because of selling some of them say they simply do not

want to live under russian occupation. forsome, want to live under russian occupation. for some, the emotion is overwhelming. they have left behind their friends and their livelihoods but this family told me they did not have any choice. translation: ., , translation: school for staff. they started — translation: school for staff. they started threatening - they started threatening children who refused to go to a russian school to be sent to a military academy.— russian school to be sent to a military academy. then there is the nearby _ military academy. then there is the nearby nuclear— military academy. then there is the nearby nuclear power- military academy. then there is| the nearby nuclear power plant. un monitors are there now but it could still come under attack the ukraine is taking precautions. potassium iodide tablets are being handed out to those who live nearby, a partial antidote in case there is a leak of radiation. this person is one of those queueing up person is one of those queueing up for the bills. translation: , ., translation: scary at night, when ou translation: scary at night, when you hear— translation: scary at night, when you hear the _ translation: scary at night, | when you hear the explosions.

we live high up on the eighth floor and you can hear it coming from other towns. i am petrified. i want to save my life and protect my child. i life and protect my child. i met the mare of the town next to the nuclear plant. he is in constant contact with those who still work there under russian control. are you confident that the iaea is getting a true picture of the situation at the powerplant? translation: ., ., , ., , translation: no, i really doubt the picture _ translation: no, i really doubt the picture will _ translation: no, i really doubt the picture will be _ translation: no, i really doubt the picture will be objective. - the picture will be objective. unfortunately, russia did not allow access for the international media so the story is being shaped by the russian occupiers. zaporizhzhia, the nearest city to the nuclear plant, does not feel like it is in a war zone. life largely goes on as normal but everyone wants the war to end and for the threat of a

nuclear accident to be lifted. frank gardner, bbc news. the former us president donald trump has called his successor an enemy of the state, two days afterjoe biden branded him and his make america great again supporters a threat to american democracy. addressing a rally in pennsylvania, mr trump called mr biden�*s address the most vicious speech ever delivered. he condemned the recent fbi raid to recover classified documents from his florida home as a travesty ofjustice and a shocking abuse of power. this week, joe biden came to philadelphia, pennsylvania, to give the most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an american president, vilifying 75 million citizens, plus another possibly 75, to 150, if we want to be accurate about it, as threats to democracy and as

enemies of the state. you're all enemies of the state. he's an enemy of the state, you want to know the truth. the enemy of the state is him and the group that control him, which is circling around him. chileans go to the polls on sunday to vote in a historic referendum on a new constitution that would radically reshape the south american country. the previous constitution was drafted by former dictator augusto pinochet and the new one would instead focus on social rights, climate and gender equality. it's expected to be a tight vote. our south american correspondent, katy watson, has been following the story. it started three years ago with what has become known as the social outburst of chile — in subway fares that grew

to encompass deepeningi inequalities in the region's most stable economy. top of the protesters' demands was to change the constitution of chile, drawn up by a dictator. many saw that is the root of the country's problems and so the process to modernise the constitution began. it is huge in scope, covering gender parity, abortion rights, indigenous representation and climate issues and, if it passes, it will be one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. translation: as you can see, there is order and tranquillity i in the polling stations, as there should be. we guarantee citizens can exercise their right to vote, which is the right thing to do in a democracy. on sunday, we celebrate a tribute to democracy with great peace of mind. translation: we are very happy and very hopeful and we believe l that the big winner this sunday will undoubtedly be democracy. all the conditions are in place for a calm and safe vote in the region. in recent weeks, polls have indicated more voters plan to reject the constitution

then vote for it. if that happens, it will be a blow for the president, gabriel boric, but he has promised a new constitutional process to ensure that that that the text put in place by pinochet is finally replaced. katy watson, bbc news. nasa says the launch of its huge new moon rocket is likely to be delayed by several weeks after lift—off was postponed for a second time. before another attempt can be made, engineers have to identify the cause of a fuel leak. artemis, plagued by years of delays and huge budget overruns, is the most powerful rocket ever developed by nasa. it's designed to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. our science editor, rebecca morelle, sent this update from the kennedy space center, in florida. there is a real sense of disappointment here at the kennedy space center, but really the problems started earlier today. while the rocket was being fuelled, a large hydrogen

leak was detected. and this is not a good thing. so the team tried to fix it three times but their troubleshooting didn't work and the launch was stopped. over the last few hours, they have been poring over the data to find out what went wrong, and they have announced the rocket is going to need significant repair work. this mission was nasa's first return to the moon in more than 50 years, and the idea was that the rocket was going to launch a small spacecraft called orion, it is perched at the top of the rocket, and take it orbiting around the moon before it returned to earth. the whole thing was going to take five or six weeks. it was a test flight so no people were set to be on board but for the next mission, astronauts were going to join the ride and they would go in orbit around the moon but the ultimate aim was to land astronauts on the moon, and nasa wanted the first woman and the first person of colour walking on the lunar surface. this will take a bit longer now

because now the first step to all this getting this test flight, getting this rocket off the ground. it is important to remember, though, that this is a new rocket. rockets are incredibly complex machines and this is the one is the most powerful that nasa has ever built so they are learning about it, they are learning about it with every attempt to get this thing to lift up off the ground, so setbacks and delays aren't uncommon. but it does appear that nasa's ambitions to get back to the moon are going to be delayed by a little while. earlier, i spoke to tariq malik, the editor—in—chief of space.com. i asked him if he was disappointed with the failed launch. you know, it is disappointing. as you mention, 10 years of developing this rocket, billions over budget. this was supposed to fly about five years ago, in 2017. so it's years late as well. nasa has been touting this mission as their vanguard, their test flight, to return astronauts to the moon in a few years.

and so they're disappointed, they were expecting record crowds, maybe a00,000 people in florida over a us labor day holiday weekend, but when the rocket�*s not ready, the rocket�*s not ready. the first failed launch was on monday. these are incredibly complicated machines. this is rocket science. are you surprised they tried so soon with this second launch attempt? well, i'm not. i was here for that first attempt and they had an engine cooling issue that turned out to be a bad centre — they solved that pretty quickly. they also had a different type of a fuel leak in that attempt and they were able to fix it by tightening up some equipment. but that pretty much wrapped up in pretty quick time, this new leak is something that is substantially different. it's a much bigger leak. it's in a connection about the size of a dinner

plate, and they've got this gasket they've just got to replace and it is difficult to do that at the pad in the time they had available with this window. when�*s their next launch window then? well, this current window ends on tuesday, 6 september, the next time that they can try to launch is in a couple of weeks, 16 september to a october. the challenge there is if they think they have to move the rocket back into its giant hanger, the vehicle assembly building, that will take a long time, takes a long time to do it, and then they have to do the repairs and some other checkouts they have to do for safety reasons. then they have to go back again. so they're looking at either the early october or the mid—october timeframe to try to get this done. we can't ignore the cost element here, as you said before, massively over budget, expected to be $93 billion in total, about $a billion per launch. wise is the us spending this money on this rocket, this empty rocket, to the moon, when it could be spending it taking care of people?

you know, that's always the big question when it comes to space exploration. nasa's administrator, bill nelson, who has flown in space himself, has said repeatedly that the spirit of exploration runs really high, notjust at nasa, but with the united states. they have also used a lot of technology that they have developed from the space programme into our daily lives here. you and i are speaking over satellite and internet communications, a lot of that came from this. so they're really hoping to inspire the next generation of scientists, as well find new technologies and new frontiers to explore. tariq malik there. this is bbc news. the headlines: ukraine's president zelensky has urged europe to remain united in the face of russia's use of energy as an economic weapon. donald trump accusesjoe biden of being the real enemy of the state, days after the president branded him a threat to american democracy.

the funeral has taken place of mikhail gorbachev, the last president of the soviet union who's widely credited with helping bring about the end of the cold war. he died on tuesday at the age of 91. russia's president vladimir putin did not attend due to what he described as constraints on his schedule. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. in the columned hall of the house of unions, a last farewell to the man who changed the world. mikhail gorbachev had let the iron curtain crumble and ended the cold war but saw his own country, the soviet union, fall apart. there was a guard of honour but no state funeral — a sign that vladimir putin's kremlin has little interest in honouring mr gorbachev�*s legacy. president putin didn't even come today. many russians blame gorbachev for the collapse

of their superpower, but out on the streets, muscovites young and old were queueing up to pay their respects. gorbachev had given many here their first taste of freedom and democracy. in today's russia, both those things are under attack. these people who came to gorbachev to thank him, to say "thank you, mr gorbachev. "you gave us a chance and we lost this chance." "the end of an era" — we hear that phrase so often, don't we? its meaning has almost been diluted. but the death of mikhail gorbachev really does mark the end of an extraordinary era in history — a rare period when russia was opening up to the world, when people here were being given freedoms, and when east and west pledged to live together in peace.

as mr gorbachev�*s coffin was carried from the building, a final round of applause before his finaljourney. most soviet leaders were buried in red square but, for the last leader of the soviet union, his final resting place is this moscow cemetery. mikhail gorbachev�*s wish was to be buried beside his wife, raisa. he loved power, but he loved her more. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. an estimated 70,000 people have been taking part in anti—government demonstrations in the czech capital prague amid soaring energy prices. protesters from both the political left and right demanded the resignation of the centre—right coalition, accusing it of paying more attention to ukraine than its own citizens. organisers say prague should be militarily neutral in the conflict.

earlier, i spoke to mitchell orenstein, professor of russian and east european studies at the university of pennsylvania. i asked him if the crowds at the protests represent the feelings of most people in the czech republic. well, absolutely, it's not representative. i mean, the interesting thing is that support for nato has actually increased by 10% in the czech republic since the outbreak of the war, and fiala's government has been staunchly pro—ukrainian. now, support for nato is up to 78% in the czech republic, so this group represents a minority — a small minority that seeks to embarrass the government at a time when it holds the european union presidency of the council and to make use of the higher energy prices to somehow score some points at a time when they are really facing some very substantial setbacks. when it comes to the dissatisfaction with the government, is this a new development or has it been brewing for a while?

there's no evidence that there is increased dissatisfaction with the government — in fact, quite the opposite. fiala and his party have been increasing in the polls recently. i think what this is is an attempt by a group of parties that have lost support recently to reignite some type of — reconnect somehow with the public by using the energy price increases as a kind of lever. you mention the energy prices, let's look closer at that. what is the picture with fuel prices in the czech republic? similar across europe. obviously, there's been a huge increase in energy prices — you know, starting because of the war, because of the boycotts. russia has stopped sending gas

through the nord stream i pipeline, so energy prices are elevated across the european union, including in the czech republic but, frankly, everywhere and also, i believe, in britain. that's not popular. i think that in the short—term, russia has a lot of leverage over the european union because it can control the prices byjust cutting off supply. however, over the medium—term, russia is the loser here. the european union is getting quite serious about cutting off its dependency on russian oil and gas, and it will be able to do that in a few years but, of course, it can't happen immediately and so, russia is trying to play its best hand and remind everybody that they're still needed and try to shift opinion somehow in a country which has turned quite against russia overall. people in certain parts ofjackson, mississippi have told bbc news they aren't being supplied with free

bottled water. their water supply has been contaminated by flooding which damaged a local treatment plant. for the second week in a row, the national guard has been distributing bottled water to those in need. our north america correspondent chi chi izundu has been finding out how residents are coping. brown water comes out. it is not normal and it is not drinkable, so what do we do? when i first turned it, it always _ when i first turned it, it always comes out rust. i would never drink a glass of water. . i do not brush my teeth with the tap water. - idon't, so, no. come on. thank you for showing us. did you have a flashlight? no, i don't, but i can use my phone one. 0k, good. a fire next door has knocked out marshall's

gas and electric. he has not had clean running water, though, for eight months. and the hot water came just the same way. brown water. the hot water is brown as well. and you shower in it? yes, ma'am. and you cook with it? i cook with it. and you drink it? and i drink it. this week's water problem has been blamed on flooding damaging the local water treatment plant. some people have no water, others get it discoloured. probably, in the last week, it became dark. —— probably, in the last week, it even got darker. it usually don't be this dark. marshall lives in west jackson, a largely black area which is the poorest part of the city in one of the poorest states of america. old lead—lined pipes, an undermaintained water treatment plant and years of a lack of funding has resulted in this — the national guard being called to hand out bottles of water.

it's like we living back in caveman days, so to speak, you know? but see we are in this century now, so we should be afforded all these things without having to go through what we are going through. and i understand that they are having so many issues with the pipes and so forth like that, so hopefully, they can get all that corrected. some parts of the city now have their water restored but any residents still do not trust it. i have been catching rainwater. since moving to jackson two years ago, serena, a law student, has always been fearful about the quality of the water. and i am fortunate because i have a filter and so, i would never drink a glass of water. i do not brush my teeth with the tap water. i wash my clothes in it, but i don't really have another option, so, no. officials are still asking the people of jackson to boil their water before use. but for residents like marshall, even if he could, that is a band aid because without an overhaul of the whole system, this city will continue to battle for the basic right of clean water. chi chi izundu, bbc news,

jackson, mississippi. in the us, a massive wall of dust has moved across arizona, consuming several neighbourhoods. the wall of dust, which is sometimes called a haboob, was around 80km wide and almost 2000m in height. winds around the dust storm reached over iookm/h. there were reports of zero visibility on the ground and the storm and winds left many in the area without power. prince charles and the duchess of cornwall have joined thousands of spectators at the braemar highland games in aberdeenshire. it was announced on friday that the queen would miss the event, which she attends most years. the braemar gathering is a popular highland games event which attracts crowds from across the globe who watch competitors take part in the caber toss, hammer throw, and tug—o—war. that's it from us for now. you can reach me on twitter.

i'm @richpreston. from all of us on the team in london, thanks for watching. we will see you next time. goodbye. hello. the second half of this weekend continues with this mixed picture across the uk — warm sunshine for some, heavy rain for others. the heavy rain tied in with this slow—moving area of low pressure which stays with us as we go into the new working week and we start sunday with some heavy rain initially across northern ireland and northern england, pushing its way north and eastwards across scotland, not reaching the northern isles until much later in the day. the showers elsewhere will fade through the morning, some spells of sunshine, but likely to see some heavy showers developing across south west england through the afternoon. showers are likely to crop up almost anywhere. could be heavy and thundery where we do see them, but quite well scattered. east anglia and south east

england staying mainly dry. it's quite a breezy day, particularly for irish sea coasts, where we could see stronger gusts for a time, but a warm day for most of us, especially across east anglia and south east england, where we see the best of the sunshine. 2a, 25, maybe even 26 celsius here and the low to mid 20 celsius for many of us. through sunday night, we see another band of heavier rain pushing up from the south, and that is likely to affect a large swathe of the uk. heaviest across england and wales, perhaps not reaching the far north of scotland until much later in the night. once again, it's a warm and muggy night with temperatures not much lower than ia or 15 celsius. so, then, we start the new week still with this area of low pressure to the west of the uk. it is going nowhere fast. notice the squeeze in the isobars, so still some stronger gusts of wind, particularly across south west england and for irish sea coasts, and further showers as well on monday. the rain initially heavy across northern england and scotland through the morning. it will be easing away and actually, behind it, a good deal of sunshine, but there will be some showers cropping up and where we see them, again, they could be heavy and thundery. somewhat hit and miss — some will have a largely dry and warm day.

again, temperatures in the low if not mid 20 celsius as we start the new working week. and this area of low pressure really isn't going to go away through much of next week, slow—moving eastwards across the uk, and it's going to bring showers or longer spells of rain on most days. some much—needed rain, but we need to keep an eye on the south of england, because we could see some very heavy rain here for a time through the week. so, one way or another, most of us are going to see some showers or some longer spells of rain in the week ahead, and the temperatures will be slowly coming down, too. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ukraine's president zelensky has urged europe to remain united in the face of russia's use of energy as a weapon. his wife has told the bbc the economic impact of the war is tough on ukraine's allies but ukranians are counting casualties rather than pennies. donald trump has accused joe biden of being the real enemy of the state, days after president biden branded mr trump and his supporters a threat to american democracy. donald trump, was holding a rally in pennsylvania, the first since the fbi raided his mar—a—lago residence, in florida. nasa has called off the planned launch of the artemis mission to the moon, for the second

time in a week. the lift—off of the giant rocket was postponed