A former Ukrainian official and vocal critic of Volodymyr Zelenksy was shot dead in broad daylight today.

51-year-old Andriy Portnov was getting into his car outside the elite American School of Madrid in Spain this morning when he was gunned down.

Reportedly, he had just dropped his children off at the school. He sustained several gunshot wounds, including one to the head.

Portnov previously served as advisor to Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych and had left Ukraine months after Russia invaded.

Here’s what we know about the assassination:

UKRAINE: Andriy Portnov, former adviser to Ukraine’s ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, was assassinated this morning outside the American School in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, while dropping off his children. Zelensky is suspected of ordering the hit. pic.twitter.com/6RiGcPXVBK

— @amuse (@amuse) May 21, 2025

Zelensky critic and man who could have played big role in future Ukraine Andrey Portnov executed in broad daylight in major European capital.

Kiev has promised an indefinite assassination campaign against its “enemies.”

They never said killings would happen only in Russia.… pic.twitter.com/RjmAgM0CO9

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) May 21, 2025

Ukrainian ex-politician Andriy Portnov shot dead outside Madrid’s American School. Russia’s Miroshnik claims Portnov held info threatening Zelensky’s circle. Spanish police hunt for suspects. #Ukraine #MadridShooting pic.twitter.com/HolLb8sd1n

— Make Europe Great Again – M.E.G.A (@ScaryEurope) May 21, 2025

Reuters reported:

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a former Ukrainian politician on Wednesday outside a school in a wealthy suburb of Madrid, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.

Andriy Portnov, 51, was previously a senior aide to a pro-Russian former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted in a 2014 popular uprising.

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Police reached the scene after receiving calls at 9.15 a.m. (0715 GMT) about a man with gunshot wounds on the street outside the American School of Madrid, in the Pozuelo de Alarcon suburb west of the capital, police officials told Reuters.

“Several persons shot him in the back and the head and then fled towards a forested area,” an Interior Ministry source said.

When emergency services arrived they found Portnov dead with at least three gunshot wounds, a spokesperson said.

Police had covered the body of a person wearing white running shoes lying near a black Mercedes-Benz car in a cordoned-off pavement outside the school.

In 2015, a former member of parliament with ties to Yanukovych and a Ukrainian journalist were both killed in high-profile shootings in Kyiv, CNN reported.

Around the same time, three former MPs from Yanukovych’s political party died by suspected suicide in their homes.

Spain has seen several attacks linked to the Russia-Ukraine war in the past three years, seen as linked to the large populations from both countries who live there.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

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