Police received a call about the shooting of a Ukranian citizen at 9.15am (0715 GMT) local time outside the elite American School of Madrid, located in Pozuelode Alarcon, Madrid police told Reuters, without identifying the victim.

Portnov was a senior aide to Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovich who was ousted in the 2014 Euromaidan revolution.

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

In Nov and Dec 2022, six letter bombs were sent to high profile targets around Spain, including to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, government offices, a European Union satellite company and the US embassy. A 76-year-old retired Spanish civil servant whose social media searches suggested sympathy for Russia was jailed for the offences.

In April 2022, a Russian businessman tied to Russia’s gas company Novatek was found dead in an apparent suicide together with his wife and daughter who had suffered stab wounds.

In Feb 2024, a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in the parking garage of his apartment block near Alicante.