Well the Russians have the resources to win this. They could just mobilize, not even a full mobilization, just a partial one, 250,000-500,000 troops. They could have purchased hundreds of Iranian drones and saturated the airspace, but they didn't.
China has been supporting Russia economically, buying not only energy from them but alot of Chinese consumers have been going on a frenzy buying Russian products to support them. On the other hand North Korea has offered to deploy 500,000 troops to Ukraine in support of Russia. But will Russia take up the offer ? Because of their pride, probably not. Same reason why they didn't buy Iranian drones.
Of course it's not the same as the west directly sending weapons but Ukraine has a deficit of weapons, Russia doesn't and even if they did they could purchase more. The foreign fighters in Ukraine, I believe according to one estimate, number 2000, maybe the real number is much higher, but according to the estimate half of them have left already.
Many of them were veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan but when they realized that they were actually in a situation where they didn't have every conceivable advantage on their side, they fled. Like that Canadian sniper Wally. Western media promoted him, built him up as the best sniper in the world. However when he realized that he was up against tanks and artillery and that in some cases Ukrainian troops were actually at a disadvantage, he quickly left.
At the end of the day the Russians are suffering from a manpower deficiency issue. 170,000 troops IS NOT ENOUGH for a 900 KM front. It simply isn't. The Americans were fighting on a 200-300 km from in Iraq and they had 370,000 troops and with Iraq, the Shia and Kurdish population (70%) had been persecuted by Saddam so they didn't fight. On the other hand, 12 years of constant bombings, sanctions and previous wars had crippled Iraq by that point. NATO, the most powerful military organization on the planet supports Ukraine. Who supported Iraq/Saddam ? NOBODY
Anyways back to the point, what are the Russians going to do about it ? What are they going to do about their lack of manpower ? What about the stalemate in the air. Ukraine's massive stockpile of Soviet air defense systems, as well as advanced weapons from NATO (HIMARS, Anti radiation bombs), as well as a network of spotters with MANPADS on the ground, as well as NATO intelligence (AWACS/Satellite intel) has blunted Russia's airpower.
The question is what are they going to do about it ? Saturating the airspace with low cost UAVs is one solution. The Russians could have just purchased Iranian drones, even just until they produced enough of their own, like a stop gap measure, but they didn't and won't.
Another issue is that in recent months, since taking Severodonetsk, the Russians have become complacent. Just like the Americans in Afghanistan. But complacency does not win wars. Fortune favors the bold. It seems like Putin is hoping that this winter will help the Russians turn the tide. If this winter turns out to be extremely cold, he's hoping that the EU's support for Ukraine will waver. He's might also be hoping that the Ukrainians won't be prepared for a cold winter and that's when his army can make some gains.
Realistically though NATO is already scrambling to send winter jackets to Ukraine. However Zelensky recently claimed that Ukraine had a 1 million man army. He's probably exaggerating. So assuming Ukraine has a 400,000 man army, with most of them being under-trained conscripts, will NATO be able to provide winter wear / gear for that many troops ? Who knows but anyways when it comes to Ukraine, they had an issue with training their troops. Many conscripts were only given training for a few days or weeks before being sent to the front. Now they're addressing this issue by sending troops to the UK, Poland, Spain for training.
After the first phase of the war the Russians adapted well by shortening the front and using their overwhelming advantage in firepower and artillery to decimate Ukrainian positions. However like I said, after Severodonetsk they became complacent. They don't seem to be proactive enough and as a result have now paid the price. This might actually end up being good for them in the long run. Maybe they needed a slap in the face, a wake up call of sorts. At the end of the day, I don't know how this war will end, nobody knows for sure, but all I know is that if the Russians don't address their deficiencies, then they might as well pack up and leave now.
This is the key.
And this goes much further than the political elite of China and Russia not willing to form a true alliance with like-minded countries. Any reluctance of these states to share the burden of confronting the West stems from a lack of shared values, historical consciousness and identity between the populations they represent. The average Chinese is not willing to suffer in the scenario of Russia being attacked by the West. Similarly, the average Russian will not come at Iran's rescue if we would ever be confronted by outside powers.
Compare this to the West. People over here are willing to suffer economically and even physically because they consider Russia's invasion of Ukraine to be a grave injustice and an attack on their own values. Their governments are even at times being accused by their own populations of pussyfooting with their fickle support for Ukraine. Thousands of Westerners travelled thousands of miles to fight on Ukrainian soil against Russia's presumed deadly fighting machine, and more people would do so if their governments would order a complete mobilization.
There may be some support between China, Russia and Iran, but it isn't strategic nor are their long-standing ties that would provide a breeding ground for it.