diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index 4099183cac..eebee4fe04 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -1204,8 +1204,9 @@ static void show_push_unqualified_ref_name_error(const char *dst_value,
 			 "'%s:refs/tags/%s'?"),
 		       matched_src_name, dst_value);
 	} else {
-		BUG("'%s' should be commit/tag/tree/blob, is '%d'",
-		    matched_src_name, type);
+		advise(_("The <src> part of the refspec ('%s') "
+			 "is an object ID that doesn't exist.\n"),
+		       matched_src_name);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index 2b685b05a9..f493a3b42a 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -471,6 +471,11 @@ test_expect_success 'push ref expression with non-existent, incomplete dest' '
 	test_must_fail git push testrepo main^:branch
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'push ref expression with non-existent oid src' '
+	mk_test testrepo &&
+	test_must_fail git push testrepo $(test_oid 001):branch
+'
+
 for head in HEAD @
 do