An Interview with Mykhaylo Tevkun by Toby Brockelbank
Nexus are super grateful to have sat down with Mykhaylo Tevkun of Skate Ukraine for another interview. If you haven’t seen last year’s interview, Something Solid to Stand on, check it out. Mykhaylo and I decided to focus this coverage on what has changed for Ukraine and its skate scene, both since the beginning of full-scale war and our interview last year. Last year’s interview was a written correspondence but this year I sat down with Mykhaylo for a video call which ran for three hours. We discussed everything from double kickflips to social media, following the news in a warzone, the psychological effects of war, and extensively more. When I first reached out to Mykhaylo for a follow up interview he sent me photos of recent strikes in Kyiv, and when we first scheduled this interview, we had to postpone it due to intense bombing that night. In Mykhaylo’s words, “there is a huge escalation of war right now in Ukraine”.
Due to the short nature of a magazine article, I plan on making a longform documentary with Mykhaylo over the coming months, based on this interview. During the call, we discussed military technology, strategy, geopolitics, and propaganda, in-depth, which I have cut from this article for brevity but will be in the doco. So keep an eye out for that, read below, and support Ukraine and its skaters however you can.
Answering what has changed in Ukraine since our interview last year, “So in the context of war there is a huge escalation of war right now in Ukraine if we compare it to the previous year. Because the means of war have changed, the technologies are developing, the drones are developing, the missiles are developing, and the amount of military production is increasing a lot here in Ukraine and there in Russia”. Discussing the resource cost of escalation Mykhaylo shared that, “Full scale war needs the mobilisation of all parts of the economy and the population”. After discussing the possible military mobilisations, on both sides, after Russia’s election (occurring today at time of writing) and both loss of American support and “corruption issues” at home, Mykhaylo shared, “The price of everyday is getting way higher. And yeah, the tragedy is way bigger right now because the amount of casualties has increased since last year unfortunately. So yeah, it’s a big tragedy for Ukraine. I will continue telling it like this because, you know, unless you are Ukrainian and you cannot understand the scale of this tragedy… you cannot even pick words to tell how bad it is.”
I asked Mykhaylo how the skate scene is doing currently, “Of course the military stuff is influencing the skateboarding activities and skaters and the community. So, as we have the escalation it influences skateboarding a lot… We had to postpone most of our activities this year. So, I was organising the Go Skateboarding Day, the annual Go Skateboarding Day, which is held everywhere in the world on the 21st of June. I was organising it, probably for for 12 or 13 years in a row here in Kyiv or throughout Ukraine”. Talking further about GSD, “This year we held Go Skateboarding Day only in the couple cities”, “The big cities like Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa, Zaporizhzhia… did not hold any events because of safety measures. Truth be said I do not want to be responsible for something that may happen at the massive event which holds like from 100 to 400 people, skaters, in the event. You cannot be 100% sure that everybody will be safe, healthy, and out of danger.”
We actually started the interview talking about air raid sirens, namely how, “There are always the echoes of war every day; the air raid sirens”. I asked if the sirens effect the skate session, if you have to head to a shelter, “Normally, yes, but, you know, skateboarders are people of freedom so they do not pay attention to war, they keep on pushing hard… There are now two types of air raid sirens… So the yellow one is drone danger. Drones are slower and they make less harm to buildings or to people than the ballistic rockets or the cruise missiles.”, which are the red siren, “Right now it’s the yellow one. So it’s like more chill like if you can call it that haha”. Mykhaylo further shared that, “When you live in Ukraine, you get to know all the news, all the military stuff, because it’s a matter of your survival. If you do not pay attention to it, you can never figure out what’s flying above your head and how to react and what to do if you’re close to the dangerous drones or missiles”. I asked if everyone in Ukraine kept up with the news, “Yeah. It’s a matter of your survival… a lot of psychologists say that it’s a big problem, that people wake up and look into their phones, and that’s not the best way to start your morning. But actually, here it’s an everyday tragedy, 24/7, because you wake up, you check the news; what happened in the night? Because there are a lot of casualties, all day, all night. Mostly at night. Because, like, each three to four days we’re heavily bombed by Russia… We as Ukraine do not have the means to intercept everything, that’s why, all the time, we have the massive casualties of civilian people. And, you know, each country when there is the war unfolding, they undervalue their own losses. So, for example, if they write on the news that previous night in Kyiv, there were like 20 casualties of people and like 120 of people injured. That means that, unfortunately, the figures are like 3 to 4 times bigger”.
After sharing the underreporting Mykhaylo made the story more personal when he went into the morning routine of Ukrainians, “When you wake up, you check out the news and you check out if there is the photo of the destroyed civilian house where, like some of your friends or colleagues are living and you hope that there are no photos of these houses in the news.”
I followed this point by asking if Mykhaylo knew anyone injured or killed in these strikes, “Yeah, bro. lots of lots of people”. “I have been skateboarding for like, 20 plus years… when you are skateboarding for such a long time, you’ve got, friends from, many cities… skateboarders are the guys from the streets so they know what’s happening – the real picture, way better than the people who just watch TV sitting at home on the coach. You understand? So, when you have a lot of friends from different cities, that means you’ve got a lot of different stories. Yeah, and when the war started, a lot of skateboarders went to the war fighting for Ukraine… after the five years of war, there are lots of guys who were killed. Not only in the war, a couple of guys were killed just in their bed sleeping at night”. Mykhaylo finished with, “I wish I knew less.”
Mykhaylo later shared a story from a skater in the armed forces about drones, “one friend of mine who is also a skater… He was in many hotspots around Ukraine. He was defending Kyiv. He was in the eastern part of Ukraine. He was in Bakhmut, which was a huge fight between Russia and Ukraine, which Ukraine unfortunately lost and it’s now occupied by Russia. And he once told me such a phrase that quote, ‘In the beginning of war, we were joking that it’s the war of drones, but right now we do not joke about it anymore’”.
We were discussing international support for skaters in Ukraine and support from Kyiv to regional Ukraine when Mykhaylo shared that, “As I see it from the perspective of my own experience and from experience of Skate Ukraine, if the war continues for one or two years, there will be no need for skate events or skate activities at all, because there will be just a lost generation of skaters”. Earlier in the call we had discussed the implications and brain drain of conscription and younger generations of Ukrainians leaving the country. Mykhaylo also shared the effects of Russian strikes on both skating and life in general, “With all these bombings. As yesterday we had massive explosions all night and after such a horrible night you cannot focus on anything at home to do. Basic stuff, you know, like what to tell you about skateboarding”. “You’ll get used to everything in the world. You can get used to bombing and all the air raid sirens and to the war. But your body and your brain, pays the price for it, pays a huge price”. Talking about life during war Myhalo said, “The priorities have changed. Right now, your priority is – and I think of most Ukrainians – is just basically to keep yourself and your family alive… only your well-being, your mental health and the mental health of your family and your partner and your friends. That’s what’s the most important part for me.”
When we started wrapping up Mykhaylo had some messages for our readers, “First of all, war sucks. Do everything that depends on us for war not to happen. And the second one is, even if the war happens for people to stay people. Because right now, the process of, I don’t know, polarization of people is happening… seek for more similarities than, differences, because that’s what it’s all about”. Mykhaylo insisted that, “Everybody should be aware of what’s happening in his own country, in his own community and take a proactive part in it”, he went on to say, “If you do not pay attention to the political situation, it, deteriorates a lot, it degrades a lot. It becomes more about staying in power then serving the people”. In the kiwi context that might look like voting in our upcoming election, “be aware of what’s happening around us, because we are also in charge of it.”
“The world is not like black and white, there are a lot of tones of grey. Something is more dark, something is more bright. But things are becoming more complicated each year. The world is developing right now, there are lots of threats with AI”, Mykhaylo shared his fear of AI and drones being connected then said, “Ukraine and Russia are already developing this technology. There are already AI drones used by both sides.”
After a funny misunderstanding where Mykhaylo thought I asked for ‘fun words’, he closed with these final words for readers, “Thanks for, for some attention to Ukraine… keep on pushing no matter what”. Mykhaylo emphasised gratitude in his final remarks, “we have got to live as many lives as possible, because that’s what it’s all about. that’s how I see the purpose of life… So if you are able to live a life as a skateboarder, cool, great. Be grateful that you have strong knees and keep pushing as much as possible. If you lost some part of your health and you are able to surf, for example, talking for myself, be happy for the opportunity to surf”. “We have to be grateful that we have the opportunity even to live and to breathe and to wake up in the morning, because today a few people in Ukraine didn’t have this opportunity, unfortunately. Just keep on pushing hard. Thanks New Zealand”
