On 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. Under heavy artillery and air bombardment, Lazarenko managed to extricate the remnants of his division from the German assault, which encircled the remainder of the division that defended the Brest Fortress. The 42nd retreated to positions east of Brest, and after a fighting retreat exited the pocket at Bobruisk. On 4 July he was arrested, along with other Western Front commanders scapegoated for the defeats of the early days of the fighting, and was sentenced to death on 17 September. The sentence read: "despite having knowledge of the active preparations of the enemy for military operations, showing carelessness, he did not keep the troops on alert. In the first moments of the attack Lazarenko showed confusion and inaction, and, instead of taking action and repulsing the enemy, he went to the corps headquarters, leaving his units without proper guidance." On 29 September his sentence was suspended and instead changed to ten years in labor camps. Lazarenko was imprisoned in a camp in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic for slightly more than a year.