diff --git a/src/nvim/insert.c b/src/nvim/insert.c
index 0dc5edde49..d5cd4879e1 100644
--- a/src/nvim/insert.c
+++ b/src/nvim/insert.c
@@ -2906,7 +2906,7 @@ static void replace_do_bs(int limit_col)
       int vcol = start_vcol;
       for (int i = 0; i < ins_len; i++) {
         vcol += win_chartabsize(curwin, p + i, vcol);
-        i += utfc_ptr2len(p) - 1;
+        i += utfc_ptr2len(p + i) - 1;
       }
       vcol -= start_vcol;
 
diff --git a/test/old/testdir/test_edit.vim b/test/old/testdir/test_edit.vim
index e886089d26..7682f77cb0 100644
--- a/test/old/testdir/test_edit.vim
+++ b/test/old/testdir/test_edit.vim
@@ -1824,6 +1824,20 @@ func Test_edit_startinsert_in_terminal()
   bwipe!
 endfunc
 
+" Backspacing in Virtual Replace mode over a wide character that replaced
+" several narrower ones must not eat the padding that follows.
+func Test_edit_vreplace_bs_multibyte()
+  new
+  call setline(1, 'aé    xyz')
+  call feedkeys("gR\u4e00\<BS>\e", 'xt')
+  call assert_equal('aé    xyz', getline(1))
+
+  call setline(1, 'a€  xyz')
+  call feedkeys("gR\u4e00\<BS>\e", 'xt')
+  call assert_equal('a€  xyz', getline(1))
+  bwipe!
+endfunc
+
 " Test for :startreplace and :startgreplace
 func Test_edit_startreplace()
   new