Amid the devastation in Ukraine, the photojournalist Robin Tutenges has captured how skateboarding provides a vital escape for the country’s young people – an act of resilience and freedom as they reclaim the streets in the face of conflict and trauma

Far from the frontlines, the streets of some Ukrainian cities may seem to be returning to a semblance of normality, but nothing is quite the same. War imposes itself at every turn, between the shell-torn buildings, the sandbags on the corners of caulked windows and the antitank obstacles – dozens of them are piled up under a tarpaulin, as pictured below. By reclaiming these scarred spaces, Ukrainian skateboarders want to give themselves permission to live. To regain control of their lives in the face of a war that blurs their bearings.

‘Ukraine is like a jail you can’t get out of and Kyiv is my cell. Only skateboarding allows me to escape’
Alexandr