At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, the 87th was part of the 5th Army, which became part of the Southwestern Front (formed from the Kiev Special Military District), based in the area of Vladimir-Volynsky. The division was one of the first struck by the German advance, participating in the border battles. Vasilyev became commander of the division after division commander Major General Filipp Alyabushev was killed after stumbling on a German unit while reconnoitering a highway crossing site on 25 June. From 7 July to 20 August it was directly subordinated to the front command, then joined the 37th Army for the Battle of Kiev. After Kiev fell to the German advance on 19 September, the 87th was encircled with the 37th Army in a pocket around Boryspil to the southeast of the city. Vasilyev's 87th Rifle Division and the 4th Railway Protection Division of the NKVD formed the rearguard of the army as it attempted to break out of the pocket and escape to the east. After sappers from the 37th Army and the 4th Division blew up the bridges over the Dnieper, the commander of the NKVD division contacted Vasilyev to coordinate further actions. Early in the morning of 20 September, both units reached the eastern edge of the Darnitsky forest. A reconnaissance by the NKVD troops found that the planned escape route via Boryspil was blocked by German troops, and the fighting devolved into increasingly desperate breakout attempts. During the latter, Vasilyev was killed in action north of Piryatin. He was survived by his wife, Anna Georgievna.