A former Ukrainian official was shot dead outside an American school in the Spanish capital Madrid, the report said.

The 51-year-old man, named by Ukrainian and Spanish source, just placed his children in a school in the city's Pozuelo de Alarcón area, reported.

Spain reported that at least one unidentified assaulter fired several shots at the victim and fled to a forested area in a nearby park.

Portnov was a member of parliament and deputy head of the Viktor Yanukovych government, who was ousted in 2014 months after protests.

He previously served as a member of Congress on Yulia Tymoshenko's council.

After the revolution, he left Ukraine and did not return in 2019 until Vodimir Zelensky was elected president.

He then left Ukraine again and was approved in 2021 by the U.S. Treasury Department, which said he was "widely known as a court restorator" and he took measures to control the judiciary and undermine reform efforts.

The EU had sanctions on Potnov earlier, but he challenged him in court and won the case.

It is unclear who was shooting at about 09:15 local time (07:15 GMT), and it was reported that the children were still entering school.

Police drones and a helicopter searched the gunman in the area, which, according to witnesses, was a skinny man in a blue sportswear. Spanish reports suggest that the gunman may have at least one of his accomplices riding on a motorcycle.

Similar shooting occurred in 2018 when a Colombian drug dealer was fatally shot outside a British parliamentary school a few kilometers away.

However, the motive for Wednesday's attack is not yet known. Emergency services at the scene could only confirm that Portnov suffered several bullet injuries on the back and head.

Portnov's Black Mercedes car was blocked and the school wrote to parents to confirm that all students inside were safe.

Although Ukraine's intelligence agencies are linked to several killings in Russia and Ukrainian-occupied areas, fatal attacks in Spain last February were linked to Russian killers.

The victim, a Russian helicopter pilot, was shot dead near Alicante after defecting in Ukraine for several months.

Kiev authorities said they offered to protect Ukraine's Maxim Kuzminov, but he is believed to have moved to Spain's southeast coast in a false identity.