Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said "there is no rational basis" for the position of 26 European member states when it comes to continuing the war in Ukraine.

"We have always said that there should be peace," the prime minister told public radio on Friday. "We've been saying this now for three years."

The consequences of the war were "unbearable" for Hungarians, or would be borne with "great difficulty", he said.

The other 26 EU member states, he said, had a strategy to "convince the Ukrainians and themselves that it makes sense to continue the war", even without the US, in which case "every last penny will go towards this war".

The divergence of opinion between Hungary and the other member states was "not new"but had been "bridged so far", PM Orbán said. But now the divergence was between "peace-loving countries" led by the US and the 26 EU member states on whether there should be further war or whether peace should prevail.