The command of the International Legion within the Defense Intelligence Department of Ukraine (HUR) has ordered an internal investigation into threats made by the commander of the Advanced Company unit to journalists investigating the death of the company’s recruit Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, who was allegedly beaten to death, hromadske reports, citing The Kyiv Independent, which reached out to HUR and received a response.badly bruised and battered body the next morning, laid out in the snow by the room known as “the container” at the base.
According to the journalists, the commander of the Advanced Company, Leanderson Paulino, posted Instagram stories accusing the reporters behind the investigation into the volunteer’s death (The Kyiv Independent correspondent Jared Goyette and Brazilian SBT correspondent Sergio Utsch) of “taking Russian money.”
He posted Goyette’s photo, at one point saying, “Hang in there kid, it’s just getting started.” He has also promised that the reporters would be “identified” and “located” so they could be confronted in person.
HUR said that the International Legion’s command had ordered an internal probe into these threats, stressing that the Legion respected freedom of speech.
“The Legion maintains open, constructive interaction with journalists and does not tolerate instances of pressure on media representatives, obstruction of journalistic activities, or threats, which cannot be justified by either military status or wartime conditions,” HUR said in a written response.
The department added that all servicemen “are obliged to comply with the legislation of Ukraine, the norms of military ethics, and the rules of public communication,” and “any manifestations of threats, pressure, or unlawful behavior toward media representatives are unacceptable and do not correspond to the principles of service.”
Journalist Sergio Utsch said he viewed Paulino’s threats as especially serious because they could be read as speaking for the Ukrainian military. In response to Paulino’s claims about “Russian money”, Utsch explained his professional credibility was not in question, pointing to his three decades as a professional journalist, including 12 years covering the war in Ukraine.
According to the investigation, Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, 23, came to Ukraine as a volunteer and wanted to sign the contract with the Advanced Company, one of the Revanche Tactical Group units under HUR’s International Legion. He appears to have changed his mind later and was trying to leave Ukraine.
On 29 December 2025 he returned to the Company’s Kyiv base intoxicated. The Advanced Company’s supervisors made him spar while wearing boxing gloves against another soldier at the base as punishment for violating the unit’s rules.
A former serviceman of the Company says that afterwards Leal da Silva returned to the sleeping area “in a normal state” and in no pain. However, a group of soldiers later took him to a small room known as “the container”, former fellow fighters say. Witnesses say they heard the man screaming for about 40 minutes as he was being beaten.
The next morning, several servicement saw “badly bruised and battered body” of Leal da Silva laid out in the snow by “the container” near the entrance to the base. They say Leal da Silva was undressed from the waist up and had rope prints on his writsts and torso.
HUR confirmed that at the time of death Leal da Silva was staying in a temporary deployment site as a candidate and had not yet signed the contract.
The Kyiv police reported on Telegram in February 2026 that the death of Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva was under investigation as manslaughter.
Leal da Silva’s mother said that her son had trusted the Advanced Company command despite having no military background and that he had been taking medication for anxiety and depression. She said that the unit had paid for the young man’s flight to Ukraine, which he could not have afforded by himself.
“He trusted them. They lured my son into going. Just as they took him there (to Ukraine), they should bring him back (to Brazil),” the woman added.
As reported earlier, the police has opened an investigation into death threats to war reporter Anna Kaliuzhna.