diff --git a/src/Storages/StorageDistributed.cpp b/src/Storages/StorageDistributed.cpp
index bad2abf3cdc..fcd0e255e5c 100644
--- a/src/Storages/StorageDistributed.cpp
+++ b/src/Storages/StorageDistributed.cpp
@@ -415,17 +415,22 @@ QueryProcessingStage::Enum StorageDistributed::getQueryProcessingStage(
     ClusterPtr cluster = getCluster();
     query_info.cluster = cluster;
 
+    size_t nodes = getClusterQueriedNodes(settings, cluster);
+
     /// Always calculate optimized cluster here, to avoid conditions during read()
     /// (Anyway it will be calculated in the read())
-    if (getClusterQueriedNodes(settings, cluster) > 1 && settings.optimize_skip_unused_shards)
+    if (nodes > 1 && settings.optimize_skip_unused_shards)
     {
         ClusterPtr optimized_cluster = getOptimizedCluster(local_context, metadata_snapshot, query_info.query);
         if (optimized_cluster)
         {
             LOG_DEBUG(log, "Skipping irrelevant shards - the query will be sent to the following shards of the cluster (shard numbers): {}",
                     makeFormattedListOfShards(optimized_cluster));
+
             cluster = optimized_cluster;
             query_info.optimized_cluster = cluster;
+
+            nodes = getClusterQueriedNodes(settings, cluster);
         }
         else
         {
@@ -460,7 +465,7 @@ QueryProcessingStage::Enum StorageDistributed::getQueryProcessingStage(
 
     /// If there is only one node, the query can be fully processed by the
     /// shard, initiator will work as a proxy only.
-    if (getClusterQueriedNodes(settings, cluster) == 1)
+    if (nodes == 1)
     {
         /// In case the query was processed to
         /// WithMergeableStateAfterAggregation/WithMergeableStateAfterAggregationAndLimit
@@ -469,6 +474,13 @@ QueryProcessingStage::Enum StorageDistributed::getQueryProcessingStage(
         /// relevant for Distributed over Distributed
         return std::max(to_stage, QueryProcessingStage::Complete);
     }
+    else if (nodes == 0)
+    {
+        /// In case of 0 shards, the query should be processed fully on the initiator,
+        /// since we need to apply aggregations.
+        /// That's why we need to return FetchColumns.
+        return QueryProcessingStage::FetchColumns;
+    }
 
     auto optimized_stage = getOptimizedQueryProcessingStage(query_info, settings);
     if (optimized_stage)
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.reference b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.reference
index e69de29bb2d..109c1835a6e 100644
--- a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.reference
+++ b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.reference
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+-- { echo }
+select * from remote('127.{1,2}', system, one, dummy)  where 0 settings optimize_skip_unused_shards=1, force_optimize_skip_unused_shards=1;
+select count() from remote('127.{1,2}', system, one, dummy)  where 0 settings optimize_skip_unused_shards=1, force_optimize_skip_unused_shards=1;
+0
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.sql b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.sql
index 2ddf318313f..08b9581ace2 100644
--- a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.sql
+++ b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01759_optimize_skip_unused_shards_zero_shards.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-create table dist_01756 (dummy UInt8) ENGINE = Distributed('test_cluster_two_shards', 'system', 'one', dummy);
-select ignore(1), * from dist_01756 where 0 settings optimize_skip_unused_shards=1, force_optimize_skip_unused_shards=1;
-drop table dist_01756;
+-- { echo }
+select * from remote('127.{1,2}', system, one, dummy)  where 0 settings optimize_skip_unused_shards=1, force_optimize_skip_unused_shards=1;
+select count() from remote('127.{1,2}', system, one, dummy)  where 0 settings optimize_skip_unused_shards=1, force_optimize_skip_unused_shards=1;