Ukrainian troops carrying white flags have walked from inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to a civilian evacuation site to meet representatives of the Russian army, Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the "Vostok" battalion in the "Donetsk People's Republic," claimed on Saturday on social media.

However, the Ukrainian military unit Azov dismissed the claim as rumors, saying the Russian army and Ukrainian forces are using the white flags to implement a plan to evacuate civilians.  

"This time, too, both groups used such flags to evacuate citizens from the Azovstal plant. We would like to note that this is the fourth time this procedure has been carried out", the military group was quoted as saying by the Ukraine 24 TV channel.