Are there any prominent politicians in the West who are encouraging Ukraine to just give up and officially surrender Crimea/Donbass to Russian control in order to end the war?
NB: I am not saying surrendering would be a wise move. I'm just asking if any Western politicians think its the right move.
There are plenty of people in "the West" who support immediate negotiations to stop the fighting, which is either a tacit acknowledgement of territorial loss or completely naive. The prominence of these people is a judgement question. A small list of examples:
In "the West" people can be prominent critics of the government position, and not be jailed for that.
NATO Chief-of-Staff Stian Jenssen suggested that Ukraine could join NATO in return for ceding territory.
Ukraine could conceivably become a NATO member in exchange for ceding parts of its sovereign territory to Russia, NATO Chief-of-Staff Stian Jenssen said on Aug. 15, as reported by Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang.
"I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory, and get NATO membership in return," said Jenssen.
Probably Silvio Berlusconi's recent interview can be read like this. When asked whether it would take two parties (i.e. Russia's agreement) for a ceasefire, Berlusconi answers "no" and then says that:
So, presumably, Berlusconi is talking about some kind of unilateral ceasefire by Ukraine. It's hard to see how something like that doesn't entail Ukraine giving up the territory that has been explicitly annexed by Russia, but which Russia doesn't fully control at the moment, although admittedly Berlusconi isn't that explicit.
Berlusconi adds that he has a "very, very, very negative" opinion about the behavior of Zelensky and that if he were in Giorgia Meloni's shoes (i.e. Italy's PM) he would have never agreed to meet Zelensky personally, at least in the current circumstances.
In May last year, Berlusconi was quoted saying:
I believe that united Europe must make a peace proposal, trying to get the Ukrainians to accept Putin's demands.
Robert Fico said something similar in his recently published interview. Slovak PM calls Russian withdrawal from Donbass and Crimea 'absolutely unrealistic'.
"If someone thinks that the only solution [to the conflict in Ukraine] is that the Russians will return to the border where they were [before the escalation of the conflict in February 2022] and leave Crimea, it is absolutely unrealistic. We need to adapt to the new reality that has now emerged," Fico said in an interview with the hlavnespravy.sk news outlet. "It is naive to think that the Russians will leave Donbass and Lugansk, it is naive to think that the Russians will leave Crimea," he emphasized.
The Slovak prime minister opined that there is no military solution to the conflict in Ukraine. "I really want this war to end. Otherwise we will see a large number of casualties on both sides," he said. "I can't imagine what peace between Russia and Ukraine will look like, but it will come and it will be painful," the top official pointed out.
According to Republican Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio, Ukraine may have to cede land to Russia:
“What’s in America’s best interest is to accept Ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the Russians and we need to bring this war to a close,” Vance, of Ohio, said on CNN’s State of the Union. “The idea that Ukraine was going to throw Russia back to the 1991 border was preposterous – nobody actually believed it.”
Source: Sam Levine, Republican senator says Ukraine may have to cede land to Russia to end war, The Guardian, 11 December 2023.
Note that Vance is considered a possible candidate for Vice President if Trump is re-elected:
The previous Israeli PM, Bennett, gave Zelensky advice to agree to Russian conditions and give up some territory as can be read in this article.
As mentioned in my other answer to the pacifist position on Ukraine, Kissinger would be the most prominent politician talking about possibility for Ukraine to give up some territory for peace deal.
