diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index a2a9aa351f..cd9792a0b6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ systemd System and Service Manager
 
 CHANGES WITH 254 in spe:
 
+        Announcements of Future Feature Removals and Incompatible Changes:
+
+        * EnvironmentFile now treats the line following a comment line trailing
+          with escape as a non comment line. For details, see:
+          https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/27975
+
         Security relevant changes:
 
         * pam_systemd will now by default pass the CAP_WAKE_ALARM ambient
diff --git a/src/basic/env-file.c b/src/basic/env-file.c
index 58d7b3ec35..eb5e640494 100644
--- a/src/basic/env-file.c
+++ b/src/basic/env-file.c
@@ -243,7 +243,13 @@ static int parse_env_file_internal(
                         break;
 
                 case COMMENT_ESCAPE:
-                        state = COMMENT;
+                        log_debug("The line which doesn't begin with \";\" or \"#\", but follows a comment" \
+                                  " line trailing with escape is now treated as a non comment line since v254.");
+                        if (strchr(NEWLINE, c)) {
+                                state = PRE_KEY;
+                                line++;
+                        } else
+                                state = COMMENT;
                         break;
                 }
         }
diff --git a/src/test/test-env-file.c b/src/test/test-env-file.c
index cc20031ed7..6480e7beb3 100644
--- a/src/test/test-env-file.c
+++ b/src/test/test-env-file.c
@@ -31,9 +31,10 @@
 #define env_file_3 \
         "#SPAMD_ARGS=\"-d --socketpath=/var/lib/bulwark/spamd \\\n" \
         "#--nouser-config                                     \\\n" \
-        "normal=line                                          \\\n" \
+        "normal1=line\\\n"                                           \
+        "111\n"                                                     \
         ";normal=ignored                                      \\\n" \
-        "normal_ignored                                       \\\n" \
+        "normal2=line222\n"                                          \
         "normal ignored                                       \\\n"
 
 #define env_file_4                              \
@@ -89,7 +90,9 @@ TEST(load_env_file_3) {
 
         _cleanup_strv_free_ char **data = NULL;
         assert_se(load_env_file(NULL, name, &data) == 0);
-        assert_se(data == NULL);
+        assert_se(streq(data[0], "normal1=line111"));
+        assert_se(streq(data[1], "normal2=line222"));
+        assert_se(data[2] == NULL);
 }
 
 TEST(load_env_file_4) {