diff --git a/shell/ash.c b/shell/ash.c
index b5a2d961d..5613e1f33 100644
--- a/shell/ash.c
+++ b/shell/ash.c
@@ -6692,6 +6692,8 @@ varvalue(char *name, int varflags, int flags, struct strlist *var_str_list)
 		if (subtype == VSLENGTH && len > 0) {
 			reinit_unicode_for_ash();
 			if (unicode_status == UNICODE_ON) {
+				STADJUST(-len, expdest);
+				discard = 0;
 				len = unicode_strlen(p);
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.right b/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.right
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f4247a62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.right
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+26
diff --git a/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.tests b/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.tests
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d04b2cbb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell/ash_test/ash-vars/var-utf8-length.tests
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+X=abcdÉfghÍjklmnÓpqrstÚvwcyz
+echo ${#X}