Drones, artillery kill civilians on both sides of Russia-Ukraine border

Drones and artillery killed civilians on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine border on Saturday, local officials said.

In the Russian border region of Bryansk, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in their car in a village near the border, the region's acting Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said on Telegram.

Russia's Defence Ministry, quoted by Russian news agencies, said 124 Ukrainian drones had been downed over Russian regions over a period extending from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0500-1700 GMT).

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a long series of statements about Ukrainian drones heading for the capital being intercepted. An informal tally kept by Russian news agencies put the number at 24 during the day.

In Ukraine, the governor of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk Region, Oleksandr Ganzha, said a combined total of more than 40 drone strikes and artillery fire had killed one person and injured one near Nikopol.

The town, lying on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, is a frequent Russian target.

The Moscow-appointed head of Russian-held areas in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said on Telegram that two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in the major towns of Horlivka and Makiivka.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Rod Nickel and Alistair Bell)