Ka cika wannan jumla: Zykov ya bar ƙauyen da aka haife shi don ya yi aiki a matsayin mai hakar zinariya kuma aka ɗauke shi zuwa rundunar sojojin Rasha a shekara ta 1911, ya zama babban jami'i. Ya yi aiki tare da rukunin ajiya a lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na ɗaya, ya shiga cikin Juyin Juya Halin Oktoba a Ashgabat kuma ya shiga Red Army a lokacin Yaƙin Basasa na Rasha. Ya yi yaƙi a Arewacin Rasha kuma an yi masa ado don ayyukansa, ya ƙare yakin a matsayin mataimakin kwamandan kwamandan. Kasancewa da mukaman umarni a cikin rukunin ajiya daga ƙarshen 1920s, Zykov ya tashi zuwa kwamandan rukuni a ƙarshen 1930s. Ya umurci rukunin 'yan bindiga na 121 daga farkon Operation Barbarossa, ya jagoranci shi a yakin Białystok <unk> Minsk, Smolensk, Moscow, da
Voronezh. (Yankin da ke kusa da Moscow) Bayan wani lokaci a matsayin mataimakin kwamandan rundunar soji ta 60 a karshen shekarar 1942, Zykov ya umurci rundunar bindigogi ta 18 a cikin Soviet ta ci gaba zuwa Ukraine bayan yakin Stalingrad a farkon shekarar 1943, kafin ya koma tsohon mukaminsa a matsayin mataimakin kwamandan rundunar soji ta 60. Ya rike wannan mukamin har zuwa karshen shekarar 1944, lokacin da aka tura shi zuwa wani mukamin da ba na fada ba a matsayin mataimakin kwamandan gundumar soja saboda matsalolin lafiya. Zykov ya yi ritaya jim kadan bayan karshen yakin.