EU's eastern flank states gather for summit in Finland to discuss security and defence

Several European Union member states gathered in Helsinki on Tuesday for a summit to discuss how to boost their defence and security, particularly at the bloc's eastern border.

"We need to do more together, and we want to send a clear and strong signal from here that we need to do more together and in close coordination with the European Union and NATO," Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said ahead of the meeting he is hosting.

"And why? This is why because Russia is a long-term threat for all of us in Europe. It's a threat today, tomorrow and in the future," he added.

Prime ministers from Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania will gather in Finland's capital for the one-day summit, which is being held for the first time.

Besides defence and security, the future of Russia's frozen assets currently held in Belgium is also on the agenda, as well as the on-going peace negotiations to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

Following talks in Berlin, European leaders vowed to protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression, and unveiled their most detailed outline to date of the security guarantees they are prepared to offer to Ukraine.

"Yesterday in Berlin, Ukraine, Europe and the US showed so that if we work together, if we act together, we are stronger, and we need to continue this good cooperation to have a good peace, a sustainable peace to Ukraine," Orpo said.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kirstersson said "significant progress" had been made, describing a framework built around "a very strong Ukrainian army, well-equipped, well-trained. European forces also available and prepared to take our part, and a very firm American backstop".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed progress with US negotiators after two days of talks in Berlin, and said the peace proposal would be ready to be presented to Moscow in just a few days.

Still, the future of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and the operational details of how security guarantees would work, particularly those provided by the US, currently remain unresolved.