Yeah, she might have get away with that excuse until Sidorowicz beat her on skis. That is very bad result.
Żuk's PB is 6th place in Salt Lake City sprint in 2019 and 8th place in pursuit at the same event. She also had two other Top 10s in back-to-back sprints in Oberhof & Ruhpolding in 2020. 2019/20 was her best season when she finished 38th in overall standings. However in the last two seasons she had one Top 20 finish - 19th place in Oberhof sprint last year. Now without RUS & BLR she can't even get close to that.
There was a time everyone still pointed how she won 2 golds & one silver at the Junior World in 2018 where Marketa Davidova was her main rival (she won 1 gold & 1 silver) but the gap between these two is simply gargantuan four years later. Funnily enough at those WJC the likes of Jeanmonnot or Sophie Schneider couldn't even crack Top 10 and they are finally breaking through in much deeper national teams while Żuk was handed a WC spot on a silver plate and can't do anything for over two years now (her second best WCup overall finish is 60th place).