Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed he was ready to soften his stance on a proposed European Union aid package for Ukraine to be financed from the bloc's budget ahead of an emergency summit this week.

Orban's remarks, published by French magazine Le Point on Tuesday, come a day after Orban's political director said the country was open to using the EU budget for a proposed 50 billion euro ($54 billion) aid package for Kyiv.

Orban has been a vocal critic of the EU's financial and military support for Kyiv and has maintained close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

"Hungary is ready to participate in the solution of the 27 (EU member nations) if you guarantee that each year we will decide whether or not to send this money. And this annual decision must have the same legal basis as today: it must be unanimous", Orban was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Anita Komuves; Editing by GV De Clercq and Bernadette Baum)