 Sergei Shoigu, need for more tanks in Ukraine. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Saturday called for more tanks to be manufactured to meet the needs of Russian forces in Ukraine after Kiev launched a counter-offensive with Western arms. Shoigu, who visited a military factory in Western Siberia, stressed the need to maintain the increased production of tanks and better security features in armoured vehicles, the Defence Ministry said. Shoigu said this was necessary to satisfy the needs of Russian forces carrying out the special military operation launched by Moscow in Ukraine in February last year, it added. Russia claims the Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed, but Kiev says it has retaken several localities and about 100 square kilometres of territory, mainly on the southern front. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had been able to fight off Ukraine's counter-offensive so far but acknowledged losing a significant number of tanks and missing key equipment such as drones as fighting in southern and eastern Ukraine heats up.