diff --git a/core/lib/dal/src/consensus_dal.rs b/core/lib/dal/src/consensus_dal.rs
index 28559e8a62d2..15c4c18b5d88 100644
--- a/core/lib/dal/src/consensus_dal.rs
+++ b/core/lib/dal/src/consensus_dal.rs
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ impl ConsensusDal<'_, '_> {
         }
         .await?
         else {
+            tracing::info!(%genesis.first_block, "genesis block not found");
             return Ok(None);
         };
         Ok(Some(AttestationStatus {
diff --git a/core/node/consensus/src/en.rs b/core/node/consensus/src/en.rs
index 159629a3ae25..5127ab12352f 100644
--- a/core/node/consensus/src/en.rs
+++ b/core/node/consensus/src/en.rs
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ impl EN {
                 attester,
                 attestation_status,
             };
+            tracing::info!("running the external node executor");
             executor.run(ctx).await?;
 
             Ok(())
diff --git a/core/node/consensus/src/mn.rs b/core/node/consensus/src/mn.rs
index 0f1bb8dcb33b..6023231c9764 100644
--- a/core/node/consensus/src/mn.rs
+++ b/core/node/consensus/src/mn.rs
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ pub async fn run_main_node(
             attester,
             attestation_status,
         };
+
+        tracing::info!("running the main node executor");
         executor.run(ctx).await
     })
     .await
diff --git a/core/node/consensus/src/tests.rs b/core/node/consensus/src/tests.rs
index a2905b355040..8e1594393eac 100644
--- a/core/node/consensus/src/tests.rs
+++ b/core/node/consensus/src/tests.rs
@@ -616,8 +616,16 @@ async fn test_with_pruning(version: ProtocolVersionId) {
             .wait_for_batch(ctx, validator.last_sealed_batch())
             .await?;
 
+        // The main node is not supposed to be pruned. In particular `ConsensusDal::attestation_status`
+        // does not look for where the last prune happened at, and thus if we prune the block genesis
+        // points at, we might never be able to start the Executor.
+        tracing::info!("Wait until the external node has all the batches we want to prune");
+        node_pool
+            .wait_for_batch(ctx, to_prune.next())
+            .await
+            .context("wait_for_batch()")?;
         tracing::info!("Prune some blocks and sync more");
-        validator_pool
+        node_pool
             .prune_batches(ctx, to_prune)
             .await
             .context("prune_batches")?;