In September, the Ukrainians pulled off one of the best military deception campaigns in modern history. While the world focused on the ongoing Kherson offensive that started in mid-August, the Ukrainian military was quietly preparing for its real offensive in the east. In the late evening of September 6th, the Ukrainian army launched its Kharkiv offensive. That offensive resulted in the liberation of approximately 12,000 square kilometers of territory by mid-October. But how did the Ukrainians deliver the worst battlefield defeat on the Russian military since World War Two? The short answer to that question is Thunder Runs.