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Turkey, which has the second-largest army in NATO after the United States, has expressed its willingness to contribute to a possible peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, according to a source within the Turkish Defense Ministry.
"The issue of contributing to a mission will be considered if deemed necessary for establishing regional stability and peace and will be mutually evaluated with all relevant parties," the source told reporters in Ankara.
Europe's leading military powers, Britain and France, have already discussed deploying troops in a potential force to monitor a ceasefire in Ukraine following a future peace deal, while Washington has said it will not send any Americans.
Ukraine says any peace deal would require a strong force on the ground to provide security guarantees; Moscow has rejected any deployment of NATO-member forces, although US President Donald Trump says he believes Russia could agree to that condition.
The Turkish source, requesting anonymity, said that discussions on a Turkish deployment remained conceptual, with no concrete decisions yet made.
"The concept has not yet been clearly defined ," the source said, Reuters reports .
If Turkey were to deploy troops, the source stressed that a ceasefire would first need to be declared between Ukraine and Russia and the initial deployments should include non-combat units to monitor the ceasefire.
Turkish media reported last week that President Tayyip Erdogan had discussed a possible meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during separate meetings in Ankara last month.
Turkey has maintained cordial relations with Russia and Ukraine throughout their war, although it is historically a rival of Moscow, supporting forces that defeated Russia's allies in Syria and Azerbaijan since 2023.
Turkey has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia and has brokered past agreements between Kiev and Moscow, such as a deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea.
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