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Sergey Pereverzev, a military expert to the Joint Center on Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime (JCCC), said on Sunday that since Ukraine has been equipped with NATO’s Tochka-U tactical missile systems and long-range rocket systems, the number of civilian casualties in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has increased beyond the double.

The expert stated, "Since the start of the [Russian] special operation, the DPR's territory has been shelled over 30 times with Tochka-U missiles, there were more than 400 cases of shelling with 155mm NATO munitions, and the enemy used HIMARS MLRS more than five times. We should note that once the [Ukrainian forces] started using NATO weapons, there has been a 2.5-fold increase in civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure."

Read more: US arms supplies to Kiev may end up in shadow markets of other countries

Previously, on Monday, July 12, a Ukrainian strike, following direct orders from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was carried out on Nova Kakhovka in Kherson causing explosions at warehouses with saltpeter, leading to several civilian deaths and tens of injuries. 

According to the military-civilian administration at Nova Kakhovka, the Ukrainian strike carried out in the city was done using multiple rockets HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) supplied by the United States.

Furthermore, on July 7, Sputnik quoted former senior Pentagon advisor Karen Kwiatkowski as saying that Ukraine is selling weapons it acquired from the West on the black market due to the Kiev forces' limited ability to use them because of their lack of training, logistical challenges, and the diminishing size of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Read more: US Army CSA: The more weapons Ukrainians get, the more they desire