Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayan karɓar ƙarfafawa, 121st ya shiga rundunar 40 a watan Fabrairun 1942 kuma ya kare matsayi kusa da Tim daga Novo-Aleksandrovskoye zuwa Polevoye. Don ayyukansa, an ba Zykov lambar yabo ta uku ta Red Banner a ranar 27 ga Maris, 1942. An tura rukunin zuwa rundunar soji ta 60 a ranar 28 ga Yuni kuma sun yi yaƙi a hare-haren a yakin Voronezh.
kuma a ranar 4 ga Yuli ya isa yankin Zemlyansk, amma an tilasta masa komawa zuwa layin Medvezhye da Chistaya Polyana, yana rufe ƙetaren Don. A watan Oktoba, Zykov ya zama mataimakin kwamandan rundunar soji ta 60 kuma a watan Disamba ya dauki umurnin rundunar soji ta 18th. Ya jagoranci rundunar a cikin Ostrogozhsk<unk>Rossosh Offensive da Voronezh<unk>Kastornoye aiki, yayin da ya shiga cikin sake kama Rossosh da Voronezh. An tantance shi a matsayin "mai ƙarfi mai ƙarfi, mai ba da umarni wanda ya fahimci yaƙin zamani kuma yana da ƙwarewar jagorancin rukunin bindigogi", Zykov ya karɓi Dokar Suvorov, aji na 2, don "ƙwarewar jagorancin" ƙungiyar, a ranar 8 ga Fabrairu, 1943. A farkon Fabrairu, an yi amfani da hedkwatar rundunar don samar da rundunar soji ta 69, wanda ya yi aiki a matsayin mataimakin kwamandan.