CNN: Ukrainian ex-politician shot dead outside Madrid's American school, police source says

[Dennis Donovan]

CNN - Ukrainian ex-politician shot dead outside Madrid’s American school, police source says

By Al Goodman, Lauren Kent and Jack Guy, CNN

Updated 6:54 AM EDT, Wed May 21, 2025

Madrid, Spain
CNN
—
Former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov, who worked as an aide to pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, has been shot dead in the Spanish capital Madrid, a Spanish national police source told CNN.

Portnov, 51, was shot several times as he was getting into a car around 9:15 a.m. local time in Madrid (3:15 a.m. ET), the police source said. Various assailants shot him in the back and the head, and later fled into a wooded area, the source said.

The shooting took place outside The American School of Madrid, located in Pozuelo de Alaracon, an affluent suburb just west of Madrid. It has just over 1,000 students from the United States, Spain and several dozen other countries.

The school sent out various urgent messages to parents following the incident, which took place shortly after school drop-off, noting that all students were safe and the victim is believed to be the father of a student, a source close to the school told CNN.

Portnov was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 for corruption and bribery under the Magnitsky Act. He was “credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine’s courts and undermining reform effort,” according to the US Treasury Department.

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