Did Russian drones targeting the Port of Izmail in Ukraine accidentally strike Romania and land on Romanian soil? No, that's not true: parts of a drone were found in Romania following an attack against Ukraine, but the drone itself did not attack Romania accidentally or on purpose.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by @marcus_pesquz on September 5, 2023 with the following description (translated from Romanian by Lead Stories):
!!Romania attacked with Shahed drones last night, while the Romanian state is silent as usual!!
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Sep 11 12:18:08 2023 UTC)
Romania was not attacked by Russia and drones did not hit Romanian targets.
On the night of September 4-5, 2023, Russia launched an attack on the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Initial reports, including social media videos, suggested that one or more drones may have struck the Tulcea area in Romania. Ministry of Defense experts promptly arrived at the scene and gathered apparent drone debris for examination.
Although initially reluctant to confirm the news, Romanian Minister of Defense Angel Tilvăr eventually informed Antena 3 CNN that drone-like parts had been discovered on Romanian soil near Plauru in Tulcea County. This area is situated on the opposite side of the Danube River from the Port of Izmail, where Russia had deployed suicide drones. President Klaus Iohannis, who initially denied the story, later said that "all communication was done in good faith and according to the evidence available at that time," and asked the media to understand that, in the context of war, information is constantly shifting.
Regardless, the Minister of Defense emphasized that a complete drone did not land on Romanian soil, and there was no threat to the local population in the vicinity.
