Kuznetsova was born on 4 April 1918 to a Russian peasant family in Yazvishchi village, Moscow Governorate, RSFSR. She began flying when she was 18, but her father was arrested during the Red Terror in 1937, forcing her to note the arrest in applications and documents, resulting in her being kicked out of flight training several times for being related to an "enemy of the people"; however, her friends spoke up on her behalf and managed to convince the head of the flight school to let her stay. After the war she married Vladimir Pavlovich Zhukotsky, commander of the 802nd Fighter Aviation Regiment.
