A former senior Ukrainian official, Andriy Portnov, was shot dead outside an American school in Madrid on Wednesday morning, according to reports from Spanish and Ukrainian sources.
The incident occurred around 09:15 local time (07:15 GMT) in the Pozuelo de Alarcón area of the Spanish capital, as children were arriving at the school.
Portnov, 51, had reportedly just dropped off his children when he was attacked.
Witnesses said at least one gunman opened fire, shooting Portnov multiple times before fleeing into a wooded area in a nearby public park.
Spanish media reported that the attacker was described as a thin man wearing a blue tracksuit, and may have had at least one accomplice on a motorcycle.
Emergency services confirmed Portnov had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the back and head. He died at the scene. His black Mercedes vehicle was later cordoned off by police.
Police drones and a helicopter were deployed in the search for the suspects, but no arrests had been made at the time of reporting.
The school issued a statement to parents assuring them that all students were safe.
Portnov was previously a Member of Parliament and deputy head of the administration under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted during the 2014 Euromaidan protests.
He had also served under former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko before switching political allegiances.
After the 2014 revolution, Portnov left Ukraine but returned briefly in 2019 following the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He left again shortly thereafter. In 2021, he was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, which accused him of interfering with judicial reforms in Ukraine.
He had also been sanctioned by the European Union but later successfully challenged the sanctions in court.
Authorities have not released any official information regarding the motive for the killing. The incident bears similarities to a 2018 gun attack in Madrid, in which a Colombian drug trafficker was fatally shot outside a British Council school.
In a separate case in 2023, a Russian defector who had flown a helicopter to Ukraine was killed near Alicante.
Spanish investigators linked that attack to suspected Russian hitmen.
