DONETSK, April 22. /TASS/. The West is sponsoring the Kiev regime in hopes of dividing Russia, Turkish journalist and Aydinlik newspaper editor Ozgur Altinbas said during a press tour around the Donetsk People’s Republic.

The participants of the tour visited the History of the Great Patriotic War Museum in Donetsk, which has an exhibition on the current Ukraine conflict, showcasing Western-made weapons and ammunition used by Kiev, including drones.

"Western countries support the Ukrainian government, <...> trying to divide Russia. Because of that, Russia joined this war in 2022. It is not a civil war [in Ukraine], it is an independence war against NATO," Altinbas asserted after viewing the exhibition.

He added that the Western weapons in Ukraine are evidence of the alliance's confrontation with Russia.

The DPR press tour, organized by the team of Russian writer and service member Zakhar Prilepin, brought together journalists, publicists and public figures from China, Japan, North Macedonia, Ecuador, Congo, as well as other countries. The foreign visitors had a chance to explore, among other things, the civilian buildings in Donetsk destroyed by shelling from the Ukrainian army.