Former Ukrainian top leader shot dead by 'several men' outside school in Spain

A US-sanctioned Ukrainian ex-MP and senior aide to the country’s former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was shot dead near Madrid on Wednesday, a Spanish police source told AFP.Officers rushed to the upmarket town of Pozuelo de Alarcon where several people shot a man in the back and head as he prepared to climb into a vehicle, the source said, identifying the victim as Andriy Portnov.

The shooters then fled from the scene towards a wooded area, the source added, saying the attack struck outside an American private school at around 9:15 am (0715 GMT).

Madrid emergency services found a dead man sprawled on the pavement near the school with at least three gunshot wounds, spokeswoman Encarna Fernandez told reporters at the scene.

Spanish media reported the victim had just dropped off his children at the school before he was killed.

AFP journalists saw forensics officers take away a disfigured corpse wearing a white T-shirt soaked with blood.

Armed police had cordoned off the area and a forensics team was collecting fingerprints from a black Mercedes.

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Alvaro Fernandez Garcia, a 22-year-old student who lives nearby, told AFP the shooting was “shocking”.

“We usually see this on the news, or in other countries,” he added.

Sanctioned for corruption

Portnov was a lawmaker in the 2000s and became deputy head of the presidential administration under Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, before fleeing to Russia in 2014 after cracking down on pro-EU protests in Ukraine.

Portnov lived in Russia and Austria before returning to his home country following the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The United States imposed sanctions on him in 2021 for alleged corruption, saying he had used his influence in the judiciary and law enforcement to buy access in Ukrainian courts and undermine reform efforts.

He was also known in Ukraine for insulting and threatening journalists, as well as filing numerous lawsuits against media professionals.

“It’s hard to overstate Portnov’s role in intimidating Ukrainian journalists and undermining freedom of speech in Ukraine,” Anna Babinets, founder of investigative news outlet Slidstvo.info, wrote on Facebook.

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According to media reports, he used his connections within the spheres of power to escape Ukraine again in 2022, despite a ban on men liable for military service leaving the country during the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian authorities had not commented on the incident, but a military intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Portnov had been shot dead.

Ukraine has claimed or been linked with several assassinations in Russia and Moscow-occupied parts of Ukraine since the start of the invasion in 2022, targeting political or military officials or ideological supporters of the war.

Killings have also been attributed to Russia. In February 2024, the corpse of a helicopter pilot who had deserted the Russian military was found riddled with bullets near the Spanish coastal resort of Benidorm.

El Pais daily reported that Spanish intelligence sources had “no doubt that the long arm of the Kremlin was behind this unprecedented crime”.

Spain hosts more than 300,000 Ukrainians, most of them beneficiaries of temporary protection granted after they fled the Russian invasion, according to government data.