diff --git a/lib/push-jenkins-update.js b/lib/push-jenkins-update.js
index a2ec9cde..61b3cdb6 100644
--- a/lib/push-jenkins-update.js
+++ b/lib/push-jenkins-update.js
@@ -13,15 +13,15 @@ export function pushStarted (options, build, cb) {
   if (build.status === 'pending') {
     switch (build.identifier) {
       case 'node-test-pull-request':
-        createPrComment(Object.assign({ issue_number: pr }, options), `CI: ${build.url}`)
+        postCiComment(options, pr, `CI: ${build.url}`)
         break
 
       case 'node-test-commit-v8-linux':
-        createPrComment(Object.assign({ issue_number: pr }, options), `V8 CI: ${build.url}`)
+        postCiComment(options, pr, `V8 CI: ${build.url}`)
         break
 
       case 'node-test-pull-request-lite-pipeline':
-        createPrComment(Object.assign({ issue_number: pr }, options), `Lite-CI: ${build.url}`)
+        postCiComment(options, pr, `Lite-CI: ${build.url}`)
         break
 
       default:
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ export function pushEnded (options, build, cb) {
   })
 }
 
+function postCiComment (options, pr, body) {
+  // posting the CI link is best effort: createPrComment() has already logged any error,
+  // and letting it surface as an unhandled rejection would terminate the bot process
+  createPrComment(Object.assign({ issue_number: pr }, options), body).catch(() => {})
+}
+
 function findPrInRef (gitRef) {
   // refs/pull/12345/head
   return parseInt(gitRef.split('/')[2], 10)
diff --git a/test/unit/push-jenkins-update.test.js b/test/unit/push-jenkins-update.test.js
index 0ef3f3f8..5858bdb2 100644
--- a/test/unit/push-jenkins-update.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/push-jenkins-update.test.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import test from 'node:test'
 
-import { findLatestCommitInPr } from '../../lib/push-jenkins-update.js'
+import { findLatestCommitInPr, pushStarted } from '../../lib/push-jenkins-update.js'
 
 import fetchMock from 'fetch-mock'
 import readFixture from '../read-fixture.js'
@@ -65,3 +65,27 @@ test('findLatestCommitInPr: paginates results when more than 100 commits in a PR
   thirdPageScope.callHistory.called()
   fourthPageScope.callHistory.called()
 })
+
+test('pushStarted: updates the commit status even when posting the CI comment fails', (t, done) => {
+  const build = readFixture('jenkins-test-pull-request-success-payload.json')
+  build.status = 'pending'
+  const logger = { info: () => {}, error: () => {}, debug: () => {}, child: function () { return this } }
+
+  fetchMock.mockGlobal()
+
+  const commentUrl = 'https://api.github.com/repos/nodejs/node/issues/12345/comments'
+  fetchMock.route({ url: commentUrl, method: 'POST' }, 500)
+  fetchMock.route('https://api.github.com/repos/nodejs/node/pulls/12345/commits', readFixture('pr-commits.json'))
+  const statusUrl = 'https://api.github.com/repos/nodejs/node/statuses/8a5fec2a6bade91e544a30314d7cf21f8a200de1'
+  fetchMock.route({ url: statusUrl, method: 'POST' }, 201)
+
+  t.plan(3)
+
+  pushStarted({ owner: 'nodejs', repo: 'node', logger }, build, (err) => {
+    t.assert.strictEqual(err, undefined)
+    t.assert.strictEqual(fetchMock.callHistory.called(commentUrl), true)
+    t.assert.strictEqual(fetchMock.callHistory.called(statusUrl), true)
+    // give a rejected comment promise the chance to surface as an unhandled rejection
+    setImmediate(done)
+  })
+})