This chapter aims to weave emotional analysis into the discourse surrounding Russia’s war against Ukraine and illustrate the central role emotions play in collective reactions to the conflict. It probes the emotional foundations of war, asking how political concepts evoke emotional reactions and how these reactions are politically leveraged within the power dynamics of Ukraine, Russia, and the Euro-Atlantic West. Focusing on three key concepts—spheres of influence, justice, and peace—this analysis deciphers the emotion-driven responses they evoke, each embodying distinct security logics that justify military actions, resist aggression, or promote peace negotiations. The author concludes that political concepts undergo a semiotic transformation into emotional constructs, a process critical for their political instrumentalisation in policy-making and societal discourse.