Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a former Ukrainian politician on Wednesday morning (May 21) outside a school in a wealthy suburb of Madrid, Spain's Interior Ministry said.

Police received a call about the shooting of a Ukrainian citizen at 9.15 a.m. (0715 GMT) local time outside the elite American School of Madrid, located in Pozuelode Alarcon, Madrid police told Reuters.

The victim, Andriy Portnov, 51, was a senior aide to Ukraine's pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a 2014 popular uprising.

Portnov left for Russia the same year and has faced investigations in Ukraine over accusations of treason and embezzlement, as well as international sanctions, although the charges and EU sanctions were later dropped.

The U.S. Treasury Department put Portnov on its sanctions list in 2021, saying that he had "cultivated extensive connections to Ukraine's judicial and law enforcement apparatus through bribery".

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been several high-profile crimes involving Russians and Ukrainians in Spain, which has significant expatriate populations from both countries.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JANUARY 30, 2014) (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS-SERVICE - Access all)

1. THEN DEPUTY HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION, ANDRIY PORTNOV, MAKING STATEMENT, SEATED NEXT TO THEN UKRAINIAN JUSTICE MINISTER, OLENA LUKASH

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) THEN DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION, ANDRIY PORTNOV, SAYING:

"The law provides that if the requirements of this law are not fulfilled within 15 days, it will automatically cease to be in force."

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JANUARY 25, 2014) (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS-SERVICE - Access all)

3. PORTNOV, LUKASH

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) THEN DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION, ANDRIY PORTNOV, SAYING:

"Also parties have agreed that squares and street of the city of Kyiv will be gradually unblocked by both protesters and law enforcement authorities."

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - OCTOBER 31, 2013) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

5. STILL IMAGE OF PORTNOV

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - AUGUST 2, 2010) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

6. PORTNOV SHAKING HANDS WITH THEN PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH