Madrid, 21 May 2025 (dpa/MIA) – Ukrainian lawyer and politician Andriy Portnov, who once served as an advisor to pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych, was shot and killed on a Madrid street on Wednesday.

Portnov, 51, was killed with five shots, several of them to the head, police in the Spanish capital confirmed to dpa.

The assassination took place close to the American School, where Portnov had dropped off his children, according to media reports. Photos showed a body lying next to his car.

Kiev media, citing security service sources, confirmed the crime.

Portnov, who came from eastern Ukraine, worked as consultant and deputy head of the presidential office during Yanukovych's presidency between 2010 and 2014, holding responsibility for restructuring the Ukrainian court system.

Before then, he was a member of parliament for the party of former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko.

Following the ousting of Yanukovych in 2014, he lived for a time in exile in Russia, returning to Ukraine shortly before President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected in 2019.

He left the country again after the Russian invasion in February 2022, this time for the West.

He had drawn attention in recent months in Ukraine for successful legal actions against media that termed him "pro-Russian."

The United States imposed sanctions on him in 2021. European Union sanctions on him were lifted after successful legal action.

Photo: EPA