diff --git a/docs/changelog/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
index 8b5b569bf..374a88eca 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ See also [LTS releases](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/lts-releases/).
 
 * BUGFIX: [dashboards](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/dashboards) for Single-node VictoriaMetrics, cluster: The free disk space calculation now will subtract the size of the `-storage.minFreeDiskSpaceBytes` flag to correctly display the remaining available space of Single-node VictoriaMetrics/vmstorage rather than the actual available disk space, as well as the full ETA. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/7334) for the details.
 * BUGFIX: [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmalert): properly set `group_name` and `file` fields for recording rules in `/api/v1/rules`.
+* BUGFIX: [Single-node VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/) and `vmstorage` in [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/cluster-victoriametrics/): prevent panic when ingesting samples which are outisde of configured [retention filters](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#retention-filters). This could happen when backfilling data with retention filters which exclude samples from the backfill range.
 * BUGFIX: [vmctl](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/): fix issue with series matching for `vmctl vm-native` with `--vm-native-disable-per-metric-migration` flag enabled. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/7309).
 
 ## [v1.105.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.105.0)
diff --git a/lib/storage/partition.go b/lib/storage/partition.go
index ab70c3791..3d9f01879 100644
--- a/lib/storage/partition.go
+++ b/lib/storage/partition.go
@@ -745,6 +745,9 @@ func (pt *partition) mustMergeInmemoryParts(pws []*partWrapper) []*partWrapper {
 			}()
 
 			pw := pt.mustMergeInmemoryPartsFinal(pwsChunk)
+			if pw == nil {
+				return
+			}
 
 			pwsResultLock.Lock()
 			pwsResult = append(pwsResult, pw)
@@ -806,6 +809,11 @@ func (pt *partition) mustMergeInmemoryPartsFinal(pws []*partWrapper) *partWrappe
 	}
 	mpDst.ph = *ph
 
+	// resulting part is empty, no need to create a part wrapper
+	if ph.BlocksCount == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	return newPartWrapperFromInmemoryPart(mpDst, flushToDiskDeadline)
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/storage/partition_test.go b/lib/storage/partition_test.go
index 2643347a5..ea234a50c 100644
--- a/lib/storage/partition_test.go
+++ b/lib/storage/partition_test.go
@@ -150,3 +150,39 @@ func newTestPartWrappersForSizes(sizes []uint64) []*partWrapper {
 	}
 	return pws
 }
+
+func TestMergeInMemoryPartsEmptyResult(t *testing.T) {
+	pt := &partition{}
+	s := newTestStorage()
+	s.retentionMsecs = 1000
+	defer stopTestStorage(s)
+	pt.s = s
+	var pws []*partWrapper
+
+	const (
+		inMemoryPartsCount = 5
+		rowsCount          = 10
+	)
+
+	for range inMemoryPartsCount {
+		rows := make([]rawRow, rowsCount)
+		for i := range rowsCount {
+			rows[i].TSID = TSID{
+				MetricID: uint64(i),
+			}
+			rows[i].Value = float64(i)
+			rows[i].Timestamp = int64(i)
+			rows[i].PrecisionBits = 64
+		}
+
+		pws = append(pws, &partWrapper{
+			mp: newTestInmemoryPart(rows),
+			p:  &part{},
+		})
+	}
+
+	pwsNew := pt.mustMergeInmemoryParts(pws)
+	if len(pwsNew) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected non-empty pwsNew: %d", len(pwsNew))
+	}
+}