Вторжение

Name: Вторжение
Released: 2026

2026Series

Where to watch

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The approach to June 1941

Вторжение, also known as Invasion, is Channel One’s historical series about the years before Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union and the early wartime period. The project is presented by Vyacheslav Nikonov and made with the Russian State Archive of Film, Photographic and Sound Documents. It uses archival material within a docudrama account of diplomacy, preparation and the outbreak of war.

The early chapters move through European diplomacy in the late 1930s, the war in China, the Spanish conflict and the Munich agreements. The programme frames these events through its argument about Western concessions and the Soviet Union’s position. That interpretation belongs to the series’ historical perspective and shapes the way its pre-war chronology is assembled.

The invasion and the defence of major cities

Later instalments turn to German preparations, intelligence and the months before June 22, 1941. The series then follows the opening of the invasion and the fighting around Moscow and Leningrad in autumn 1941. The movement from negotiations to military attack gives the project its chronological structure.

Channel One introduced the project in June 2026 to mark the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The collaboration with the state archive supplies the production context for its use of historical images, while Nikonov’s narration and argument connect those materials into the series’ account of the period.

Episodes

S01 · E01

1 серия

In the late 1930s, European politicians smiled, shook hands, and signed agreements. But each new compromise only brought disaster closer. They called it a fight for peace. In reality, they were surrendering country after country to Hitler.

S01 · E02

2 серия

1937-1938. Fascism had already made its presence felt. Japan had begun a new phase of its war for the conquest of China. Germany and Italy were fully assisting General Franco's fascists in suppressing the Republicans in Spain.

S01 · E03

3 серия

1938-1939. The Munich Agreements between England and France, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy gave Hitler a huge part of Czechoslovakia and invited him to new conquests in Eastern Europe.

S01 · E04

4 серия

By September 1939, the war had been raging for years—Japanese aggression in China, Italian aggression in Ethiopia, Nazi aggression in Spain, and Hitler's annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Each time, the Soviet Union aided the victim of aggression, while the West repeatedly succumbed to Nazi aggression.

S01 · E05

5 серия

By the end of 1940, the Soviet leadership had no doubt that a major war was imminent. Intelligence revealed that Germany was intensively, systematically, and comprehensively preparing for an attack on the USSR.

S01 · E06

6 серия

June 22, 1941. At 4 a.m., Germany, without declaring war, unleashed the might of the most advanced military machine ever created on the Soviet Union. Documentary footage captures the first hours of the invasion: the Russian army puts up unprecedentedly daring resistance, the Nazi vultures are destroyed in the air, and Great Britain, only yesterday an adversary, becomes an ally.

S01 · E07

7 серия

Autumn 1941. The enemy is at the gates of Moscow. Hitler is throwing all his forces at the capital, hoping for its fall. It is under the walls of Moscow and Leningrad that not only the outcome of the war but also the survival of the Russian people is being decided. Bloody battles unfold, and the enemy suffers heavy losses. The entire world looks to Russia as a force capable of stopping the German invaders.

S01 · E08

8 серия

In the Soviet Union, new, well-equipped divisions were being formed, ready to come to the aid of Moscow under attack by the Nazis. The enemy, on the other hand, was suffering heavy losses, but this did not stop Hitler, who set his sights on capturing and destroying Soviet cities. Germany's thirst for victory led to a crushing and shameful defeat.

Episode descriptions: TVmaze · CC BY-SA 4.0

Film details

Format: Historical docudrama series
Release year: 2026
Premiere date: 2026-06-15
Language: Russian
Episode runtime: 64 min

Catalogue information: TVmaze · CC BY-SA 4.0