**Former Ukrainian Official Met with Top Officials in Kyiv Days Before Murder**
A former top official of Ukraine, Andriy Portnov, met with two high-ranking officials in the country just days before he was killed in Madrid. According to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, Portnov had meetings with Oleh Tatarov, deputy head of the Presidential Office, and Oleksii Sukhachov, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, on May 17-18.
Portnov, who served in the administration of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych between 2010 and 2014, was shot dead by unidentified attackers outside a school in Madrid on May 21. The motive behind his murder remains unclear.
Sources close to Ukrainska Pravda said that Portnov was seeking ways to have U.S. sanctions against him lifted, and had also been gathering information on the activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and civil society activists in Ukraine. Tatarov, who is currently deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration, has faced corruption allegations in the past.
The meetings between Portnov and the top officials have raised questions about what was discussed during their talks. The Presidential Office and the State Bureau of Investigation did not respond to requests for comment from Kyiv Independent.
**Background on Andriy Portnov**
Portnov led the legal team of then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from 2005 to 2010, and later served as head of Yanukovych’s main judiciary department. He left Ukraine after Yanukovych was ousted in the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, but returned to the country in 2019.
Portnov fled Ukraine again in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion broke out. He had been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 over allegations of corruption.
**Other Developments**
In other news, a Ukrainian citizen disappeared in Russian-occupied Crimea earlier this month after being detained by FSB officers. The Ukrainian Judo Federation has spoken out against allowing athletes from aggressor countries to compete under national symbols.
A building was reportedly damaged on the outskirts of Moscow following a Ukrainian drone attack overnight on May 29. Russia is amassing forces for a new offensive against Ukraine while continuing its attacks on civilians across the country.
The Ramstein summit will take place as Washington tries to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
