Israeli Ex-Commandos Train Ukrainian Volunteers

Civilian volunteers attend a training camp of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Civilian volunteers attend a training camp of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
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Israeli Ex-Commandos Train Ukrainian Volunteers

Civilian volunteers attend a training camp of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Civilian volunteers attend a training camp of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A group of Israeli ex-commandos has been training Ukrainian civilians, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Friday.

Reporter Ronen Bergman said he met with the group and watched the training at a zone near the Polish border.

Bergman told the newspaper that the highest political echelons were aware of the training.

These trainers are from one of the many Israeli "military companies" that provide services in various countries worldwide, whether to military organizations or armies.

Direct services or training are provided by these companies, as well institutions, and businesses.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense and Intelligence must issue a formal license for this purpose.

The trainers tried to transfer their combat experience, the newspaper report said.

Some of them have been in Ukraine since the Russian operation began.

They arrived in Ukraine to perform this mission as a Jewish rescue team from different parts of Ukraine who came to provide assistance to Ukrainian citizens following the Russian attacks.

"I understand that there is a need for these exercises,” Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior Israeli source in the security establishment as saying.

“We are all united in our support and solidarity with the nation of Ukraine,” the anonymous official said.



Pope Leo XIV Urges Release of Imprisoned Journalists, Affirms Gift of Free Speech and Press

TOPSHOT - Pope Leo XIV (C) gestures during an audience to representatives of the media, at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican, on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Pope Leo XIV (C) gestures during an audience to representatives of the media, at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican, on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)
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Pope Leo XIV Urges Release of Imprisoned Journalists, Affirms Gift of Free Speech and Press

TOPSHOT - Pope Leo XIV (C) gestures during an audience to representatives of the media, at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican, on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Pope Leo XIV (C) gestures during an audience to representatives of the media, at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican, on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the "precious gift of free speech and the press" in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

Leo received a standing ovation as he entered the Vatican auditorium for his first meeting with representatives of the general public.

The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, elected in a 24-hour conclave last week, called for journalists to use words for peace, to reject war and to give voice to the voiceless.

He expressed solidarity with journalists around the world who have been jailed for trying to seek and report the truth. Drawing applause from the crowd, he asked for their release.

"The church recognizes in these witnesses - I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives - the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices," he said.

"The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press."

Leo opened the meeting with a few words in English, joking that if the crowd was still awake and applauding at the end, it mattered more than the ovation that greeted him.

Turning to Italian, he thanked the journalists for their work covering the papal transition and urged them to use words of peace.

"Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others," he said. "In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say `no´ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war."

After his brief speech, in which he reflected on the power of words to do good, he greeted some of the journalists in the front rows and then shook hands with the crowd as he exited the audience hall down the central aisle. He signed a few autographs and posed for a few selfies.

It was in the 2013 audience with journalists who covered the election of history's first Latin American pope that Pope Francis explained his choice of name, after St. Francis of Assisi, and his desire for a "church which is poor and for the poor!"