A FORMER ADVISER to ex-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych has been shot dead outside the American School of Madrid in what appears to be a targeted attack, Spanish authorities have confirmed.

The victim, 52-year-old Andrii Portnov, was ambushed by gunmen around 9.15am local time (8:15am Irish time) this morning, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry.

According to El País, Portnov was approaching his Mercedes car when he was surprised and shot multiple times by the attackers.

He was found lying at the entrance to the school, and emergency services declared him dead at the scene.

Madrid emergency services later confirmed via social media that a man had been shot dead in the area, though they did not name the victim.

#SUMMA112 confirma el fallecimiento de un varón con heridas por arma de fuego en #PozueloDeAlarcón.

Colabora @SEAPAPozuelo y #PolicíaLocal.@policia se encarga de la investigación. pic.twitter.com/yJJnoCcval

— 112 Comunidad de Madrid (@112cmadrid) May 21, 2025

Local media reported that Portnov had just dropped his children off at school when he was attacked.

Witnesses said he was shot several times in the head and body by more than one gunman. The assailants then fled on foot into nearby woods.

Police cordoned off the area, with the crime scene located in a car park about 150 metres from the school gates. No arrests have been made so far, and a murder investigation is underway.

The motive for the killing remains unclear.

Police remain at the scene outside a school in Madrid. PA PA

Portnov was a prominent political figure during Yanukovych’s presidency, serving as deputy head of the presidential office from 2010 to 2014. He was widely seen as pro-Russian, and played a central role in drafting legislation aimed at suppressing the 2014 pro-European revolution in Ukraine.

Following the fall of Yanukovych’s government, Portnov fled Ukraine in 2014, reportedly living in Russia before relocating to Austria. It is not clear when he moved to Spain.

In 2018, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) opened an investigation against him on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

The criminal case was closed in 2019.

In 2021, the United States imposed personal sanctions on Mr Portnov, designating him as someone “responsible for or complicit in, or (who) has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery”.

Additional reporting by Andrew Walsh