Gunmen Assassinate Former Ukrainian Official Outside Madrid School

Former adviser to ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, was shot dead in the city of Pozuelo de Alarcón near Madrid, radio station Cadena SER said.

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Мужчина с орижием

“The 52-year-old Ukrainian was killed by multiple gunshots in front of a private American school in Pozuelo de Alarcón. The incident occurred around 9:15 a.m., while he was dropping his children off at school. Paramedics who arrived at the scene confirmed his death, having found injuries incompatible with life,” the station reported.

A man on a motorcycle opened fire on Portnov and then escaped. The victim received four wounds to the chest and one to the head.

At the same time, El País reports that there were two or three shooters. According to the publication, the investigation believes that the man was killed due to his debts.

According to other reports, Portnov has won a number of lawsuits in Ukraine for slander and persecution, and he has been active against the current Ukrainian authorities.

Portnov was listed as traitor in Ukraine

Andriy Portnov was listed in the database of the scandal-ridden Ukrainian website Myrotvorets ("Peacemaker").

Portnov was added to the database in April 2015 as a “traitor to the homeland.” He was accused of allegedly calling for the killing of Ukrainians, undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic, and violating citizenship laws. It is also known that Ukrainian security services suspected the former Yanukovych advisor of having ties to Russia.

Portnov was considered one of the ideologues behind the laws used to suppress the Euromaidan protests in 2014. From 2010 to 2014, he held key positions in President Yanukovych’s administration. The United States imposed sanctions on him for his alleged involvement in controlling the Ukrainian judicial system.

Russia suspects Portnov may have possessed compromising information on Zelensky

Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large at Russia’s Foreign Ministry on crimes of the Kyiv regime, suggested that the former Yanukovych advisor may have held information dangerous to someone in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle — or to Zelensky himself.

According to Miroshnik, Portnov was a powerful official during the administration of Ukraine’s fourth president and may have had knowledge from a “forgotten past” capable of damaging the “spotless reputations” of some members of the current Ukrainian government.

“The crime bears the hallmarks of an ‘extrajudicial execution.’ It's hard to believe the killing was random, especially given the execution-style shot to the head — and equally hard to believe there’s no link to the Zelensky regime,” Miroshnik concluded.

Details

Andriy Volodymyrovych Portnov (born on 27 October 1973 - killed 21 May 2025) was a Ukrainian lawyer and politician. From 2005 to 2010, Portnov headed the legal department of Yulia Tymoshenko's election headquarters. From 2 April 2010 to the end of February 2014, he was the Head of the Main Department for Judiciary of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych and Deputy (then promoted to first deputy on 24 January 24) Head of the Administration of the President of Ukraine. He was also a member of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. During the Euromaidan, Portnov was involved in the adoption of "Dictatorship laws." Immediately after the Euromaidan, on 20 February 2014, he left Ukraine. Between 2014 and 2015, he was under the sanctions of the European Union. He lived in Russia, then moved to Vienna, and practiced law there. On 19 May 2019, he returned to Ukraine. On 15 January 2020, the Pechersk Court of Kyiv ruled that, for the purposes of elections Portnov was a resident of Ukraine for the last five years. A number of criminal cases have been filed against Portnov, many of which he has won in court. In 2018, Ukrainian investigators began investigating Portnov's involvement in the annexation of Crimea, and the Security Service of Ukraine opened a case under the article "Treason," which was later closed