diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/avar-log-update-ref-errors.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/avar-log-update-ref-errors.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6d206b1658b74a6ce0a64da270b231a05488f294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/avar-log-update-ref-errors.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: 'Operations: log failed update-ref commands'
+merge_request: 3044
+author:
+type: fixed
diff --git a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_with_hooks.go b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_with_hooks.go
index 2e2ce16e356082b09f2c22ec7d5908b3d9da9896..603fe4ee116ad84d98c51f30a8b9d1ebf5a0ba83 100644
--- a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_with_hooks.go
+++ b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_with_hooks.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/grpc-ecosystem/go-grpc-middleware/logging/logrus/ctxlogrus"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git/updateref"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/gitaly/hook"
@@ -93,11 +94,14 @@ func (s *Server) updateReferenceWithHooks(ctx context.Context, repo *gitalypb.Re
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if err := updater.Update(git.ReferenceName(reference), newrev, oldrev); err != nil {
+	referenceName := git.ReferenceName(reference)
+	if err := updater.Update(referenceName, newrev, oldrev); err != nil {
+		ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).WithError(err).Errorf("'git update-ref' in %v failed with args (%v, %v, %v)", repo.GetGlProjectPath(), referenceName, newrev, oldrev)
 		return err
 	}
 
 	if err := updater.Wait(); err != nil {
+		ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).WithError(err).Errorf("'git update-ref' in %v failed on exit", repo.GetGlProjectPath())
 		return updateRefError{reference: reference}
 	}