The same week that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met for peace talks, Pro-Russian rebels have taken control of a strategic Ukrainian coastal town, showing the conflict is far from resolved.

The separatists who have taken territory in eastern Ukraine on Friday captured the town of Novoazovsk, according to a report from Fox News. Reporters in the area claimed to see tanks with the flags of Novorossiya, the proclaimed rebel state.

Russia has been accused of providing arms to the rebels -- and has even seen Western-imposed sanctions because of the allegations -- but continues to deny providing weaponry. No Russian flags were seen on tanks in the captured town, though some ready-made meals bore Russian insignia.

"There is no Russian equipment coming through here. We are fighting with the machinery the (Ukrainian forces) abandon. They just dump it and flee," said a rebel commander, who declined to give his real name.

The separatists gaining control of Novoazovsk comes a day after Ukraine claims that Russian troops and vehicles invaded the country, according to U.S. News & World Report.

More than 10,000 Russian troops have been stationed at the Ukraine border in recent months, as the conflict has been ongoing. Russia claims that the soldiers are there for training purposes.

But on Thursday NATO released satellite imagery showing Russian troops and artillery on the Ukraine side of the border.

"Russian combat soldiers, equipped with sophisticated heavy weaponry, are operating inside Ukraine's sovereign territory," Dutch Brig. Gen. Nico Tak, the director of NATO's Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Center, said in a statement. "We have also detected large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defense systems, artillery, tanks, and armored personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

"The presence of these weapons along with substantial numbers of Russian combat troops inside Ukraine make the situation increasingly grave."

Ukrainian forces over the last few weeks had been reclaiming lost territory in an offensive, giving hope that the rebels may soon relinquish control of parts of eastern Ukraine. But Friday's loss likely indicates the conflict will continue for the foreseeable future.