Andriy Portnov, a former Ukrainian official, was shot dead outside an American school in Madrid

Former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov was shot dead outside a school in Madrid on Wednesday morning after he dropped off his kids.

The shooting death of Andriy Portnov, a former high-ranking Ukrainian official, outside an American school in Madrid’s posh Pozuelo de Alarcón neighborhood early on Wednesday morning has been verified by Spanish authorities.

Around 09:15 local time, Portnov, 51, was shot and killed shortly after dropping his kids off at school. In the school parking lot, witnesses reported that he was heading toward his black Mercedes when an unidentified assailant opened fire, shooting him several times in the head and back before escaping into a nearby forested park.

Students and parents heard five or six bullets, according to Spanish media, with one student originally thinking the shooting was firecrackers. According to the local newspaper El Mundo, a woman was spotted yelling as she hurried to the victim’s side.

Police have begun a manhunt, searching the region with a helicopter and drones. According to rumors, the gunman may have had a motorcycle-riding accomplice. Witnesses described the shooter as a slender man wearing a blue tracksuit. As of Wednesday afternoon, no one has been arrested.

Portnov passed away at the site, according to emergency personnel, and his body has been sent for a post-mortem study. Parents were promptly notified by the school that all pupils were safe and that classes would now be held under heightened security.

In Ukraine, Portnov had a lengthy and contentious political career. He was a former Member of Parliament who worked under both Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych, the latter of whom was overthrown in 2014 after widespread demonstrations. Following Yanukovych’s overthrow, Portnov departed Ukraine. He returned for a short time in 2019 following the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, but he left again shortly after.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Portnov in 2021, claiming that he was a “court fixer” who attempted to influence Ukraine’s legal system for political purposes and thwarted judicial reforms. He had been the subject of numerous investigations and lawsuits both domestically and internationally, including a Ukrainian treason investigation and EU penalties, but all of these were either discontinued or reversed.

It’s still unknown why Wednesday was assassinated. Although targeted murders in Russian-occupied areas and elsewhere have been connected to Ukrainian intelligence services, Russian agents have also been implicated in earlier deadly acts in Spain. In February 2024, Kyiv blamed Russian hitmen for the shooting death of a Russian helicopter pilot who had defected to Ukraine in the vicinity of Alicante.