Security and defense analyst Michael Clarke told CGTN Europe's Global Business program that Ukraine's resistance has "wiped the floor" with the Russian military after failing to reach Kyiv, 16 days into the conflict.

Clarke, who is the former Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute, believes Russia would have aimed to reach the Ukraine capital in under a week but due to equipment issues and a surprisingly successful Ukrainian resistance, they are only just completing the first phase of what Vladimir Putin has described as a "special military operation."

"The Russians have made very, very hard work of this," Clarke said. "The Ukrainians are humiliating them on the battlefield and they're wiping the floor with them in terms of world opinion."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed 1,300 soldiers have died in the fighting and has urged global leaders to aid attempts to convince Russia to call a ceasefire.

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Clarke said the Russians have adapted to the situation on the ground now and are closing in on Kyiv.

"Numbers count and the Russians are now beginning to move themselves out as they're adapting and they're moving into a second phase where they will grind the Ukrainian forces down."

The specialist advisor to the UK's parliamentary Defence Committee from 1997 to 2019 believes Russian soldiers were not aware they would be sent into Ukraine and were not properly prepared for battle.

"They thought they were all on maneuvers, that's what we thought they were told," he explained to Global Business anchor Jamie Owen. "They didn't maintain their vehicles properly. They didn't get the logistics sorted out. They, as Russians always do when they go and exercise, they sold their equipment."

Clarke who has had a series of books published on defense analysis says it is not uncommon for Russian soldiers to sell parts of their tanks when on maneuvers in foreign territories such as Belarus, including radios, heaters and GPS systems.

Another issue Clarke raised was that the Russian forces that entered Ukraine from the north were caught off guard by Ukraine's military and used up all there ammunition in early exchanges, although he now believes they will have replenished supplies.