This paper is interested in individuals who experience war, and their attitudes towards territorial concessions. As its case study, the paper quantitatively and qualitatively analyses online survey data collected from a sample of Ukrainians to explore through their individual war narratives the emotional mechanisms that tie people to their country during the war with Russia. It finds links between people's willingness to compromise territory and their levels of national attachments, as well as their perceptions of the in- and outgroup at war. Particularly where nationalistic attachments are high, and the Ukrainian in-group is glorified as collectively victimized, the willingness to make compromises over territory is low. While this paper focuses on the Ukrainian example, the findings can travel to other scenarios where people experience war and face the option to make painful territorial concessions in return for a peace settlement.