KYIV — Spanish police are investigating the death of Andrii Portnov, 51, a powerful Ukrainian former politician, who was living in Spain.
Portnov was shot dead by several unknown attackers on a street in Pozuelo de Alarcón, a town in the Madrid province of Spain, the Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed to POLITICO.
“Official sources confirm that the victim was shot several times as he was getting into a vehicle. Several people shot him in the back and head and then fled the scene into a wooded area,” the ministry’s press service said.
Portnov was one of the key functionaries of Ukraine’s pro-Russian fugitive former President Viktor Yanukovych. In 2021, he was sanctioned by the United States over allegations of high-profile corruption, particularly in the judiciary.
Portnov’s killing is not the first high-profile shooting in Spain related to Ukraine. Maxim Kuzminov, a Russian serviceman who drew plaudits for defecting to Kyiv after Russia’s invasion, was gunned down in Villajoyosa, close to Alicante, in 2024.
