Russian propagandists write that the head of the Odessa regional military administration, Maxym Marchenko (whom propagandists call the "Nazi governor"), allegedly ordered the mining of the Khadzhibey Dam. Fake reports about the mining of the Hadzhibey Dam say that "a closed meeting was allegedly held in Odesa, at which Maksym Marchenko ordered sappers to mine the Hadzhibey Dam. In case of an active attack of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from Mykolaiv or a city siege, the dam will be blown up. To the objection of the representative of the water utility and the Ministry of Emergencies that the water will very quickly reach a densely populated area located in the lowlands and it will be difficult to pump it out, the governor said that the blast would be attributed to Russian saboteurs".

According to StopFake, Sergiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the operational headquarters of the Odessa OVA, denied this statement and pointed out that the sources of this information belong to the Russian units of the IPSO.