Ukraine has "no chance" of winning against Russia`s ongoing invasion, and the EU"s continued financial support for the country is "just crazy", Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, writes POLITICO.

His comments come as hopes fade for a ceasefire anytime soon and Europe scrambles to shore up Kyiv`s finances ahead of a budget cliff-edge next year.

In an interview with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of German media group Axel Springer, which owns POLITICO, Orbán said financial support for Ukraine “kills” the EU “economically, financially” and is "just crazy". Hungary has previously blocked the prolongation of EU sanctions against Russia and financial support for Ukraine, and has lobbied for an exemption from U.S. oil sanctions on Moscow.

"We have burned already €185 billion, and … our intention is to to burn even more. So we finance a country which has no chance to win the war", Orbán said on the latest episode of Döpfner"s podcast, MD MEETS.

Orbán accused EU leaders of intentionally prolonging the Ukraine conflict in hopes of a getting a better negotiating position for a peace deal. "They would like to continue the war. They think … that we have to continue the war to support Ukraine more" - a position the prime minister said is "wrong, totally wrong. The situation and the time is better for the Russians than for us. Don`t continue; stop it as soon as we can," Orbán said.

As for peace negotiations, Orbán said he expects "a deal between the Russians and the Americans on the war and on other issues, trade, world trade, energy and other issues".

He also said that the Europeans should “open an independent communication channel to Russia": "Let the Americans negotiate with the Russians, and then the Europeans should also negotiate with the Russians and then see whether we can unify the position of the Americans and Europeans".