Exclusive-Turkey says any Ukraine peace deal hard to digest, but better than more death

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Friday that any potential peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia would be "difficult to digest" but still better than the alternative of more death and destruction.

Turkey, a NATO member, has maintained cordial ties with both Kyiv and Moscow since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It has voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and provided it with military help, while opposing sanctions on Russia.

In an interview on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Fidan said Turkey supported a U.S. initiative to seek an end to the war in Ukraine, but that it was not easy to reach a deal.

The sides remained a "little bit far away" from reaching an agreement, he told Reuters.

Asked about potential security guarantees for Ukraine, Fidan said Europe could not provide sufficient guarantees on its own without U.S. support, but added that a deterrence factor was needed for the fighting not to restart.

The prospect of ending the war has also heightened Turkey's role in regional security, making it a key potential partner in the restructuring of Europe's security architecture, as European powers scramble to bolster their own defences and seek guarantees for Ukraine under any forthcoming peace deal.

Ukraine has said Turkey would be an important guarantor for security, and Ankara has said it would consider joining a peace initiative on the ground, though it has said details of such a mission were still not clear.

Turkey has repeatedly offered to host Russia and Ukraine for possible peace talks, after hosting initial talks in 2022.

Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's policy changes on transatlantic security, Fidan said this could be an opportunity for Europe to be more independent after its "huge dependency" on the United States since the Cold War.

Fidan said he was also hopeful that Trump's "problem-solving techniques" and his new administration would be able to find a solution for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Turkey's defence industry over its acquisition of Russian S-400 defence systems in 2019.

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Gareth Jones)