diff --git a/playbooks/roles/mirror-update/files/fedora-mirror-update b/playbooks/roles/mirror-update/files/fedora-mirror-update
index fd6335693c..9b1873c722 100755
--- a/playbooks/roles/mirror-update/files/fedora-mirror-update
+++ b/playbooks/roles/mirror-update/files/fedora-mirror-update
@@ -38,63 +38,80 @@ echo_ts "----- START FEDORA MIRROR RSYNC RUN -----"
 
 # Purge old releases
 echo_ts "Purging old mirrors"
-$K5START rm -rf $BASE/releases/35 $BASE/updates/35 $BASE/releases/37 $BASE/updates/37 $BASE/development/rawhide
+$K5START rm -rf $BASE/releases/35 $BASE/updates/35 $BASE/releases/36 $BASE/updates/36 $BASE/releases/37 $BASE/updates/37 $BASE/development/rawhide
 
-for REPO in releases/36; do
-    if ! [ -f $BASE/$REPO ]; then
-        $K5START mkdir -p $BASE/$REPO
-    fi
+# We set RELEASE_REPOS and UPDATE_REPOS to empty strings to fail
+# the conditions below skipping any rsyncing. We don't just simply
+# exit 0 here because we do need the vos release at the end to run
+# and publish the cleanups done by the rm above.
+#
+# The code below isn't simply removed to make it easy for people to
+# resurrect this in the future should conditions change making
+# fedora test nodes a more viable option again.
 
-    echo_ts "Running rsync for $REPO..."
-    $K5START rsync -rltvz \
-        --delete \
-        --delete-excluded \
-        --exclude="iso/" \
-        --exclude="images/" \
-        --exclude="isolinux/" \
-        --exclude="Cloud/x86_64/images/*.box" \
-        --exclude="Container" \
-        --exclude="Kinoite" \
-        --exclude="Server" \
-        --exclude="Silverblue" \
-        --exclude="Spins" \
-        --exclude="Workstation" \
-        --exclude="aarch64/" \
-        --exclude="armhfp/" \
-        --exclude="source/" \
-        --exclude="x86_64/debug/" \
-        --exclude="x86_64/drpms/" \
-        --exclude="snapshot/" \
-        --exclude=".~tmp~/" \
-        --exclude=".private/" \
-        --exclude=".nfs*" \
-        $MIRROR/$REPO/ $BASE/$REPO/
-    echo_ts "... done"
-done
+# A list of release repos to sync eg 'releases/36 releases/37'
+RELEASE_REPOS=''
+if [ -n "$RELEASE_REPOS" ]; then
+    for REPO in "$RELEASE_REPOS"; do
+        if ! [ -f $BASE/$REPO ]; then
+            $K5START mkdir -p $BASE/$REPO
+        fi
 
-for REPO in updates/36; do
-    if ! [ -f $BASE/$REPO ]; then
-        $K5START mkdir -p $BASE/$REPO
-    fi
+        echo_ts "Running rsync for $REPO..."
+        $K5START rsync -rltvz \
+            --delete \
+            --delete-excluded \
+            --exclude="iso/" \
+            --exclude="images/" \
+            --exclude="isolinux/" \
+            --exclude="Cloud/x86_64/images/*.box" \
+            --exclude="Container" \
+            --exclude="Kinoite" \
+            --exclude="Server" \
+            --exclude="Silverblue" \
+            --exclude="Spins" \
+            --exclude="Workstation" \
+            --exclude="aarch64/" \
+            --exclude="armhfp/" \
+            --exclude="source/" \
+            --exclude="x86_64/debug/" \
+            --exclude="x86_64/drpms/" \
+            --exclude="snapshot/" \
+            --exclude=".~tmp~/" \
+            --exclude=".private/" \
+            --exclude=".nfs*" \
+            $MIRROR/$REPO/ $BASE/$REPO/
+        echo_ts "... done"
+    done
+fi
 
-    echo_ts "Running rsync for $REPO..."
-    $K5START rsync -rltvz \
-        --delete \
-        --delete-excluded \
-        --exclude="aarch64/" \
-        --exclude="armhfp/" \
-        --exclude="i386/" \
-        --exclude="source/" \
-        --exclude="SRPMS/" \
-        --exclude="x86_64/debug" \
-        --exclude="x86_64/drpms" \
-        --exclude="snapshot/" \
-        --exclude=".~tmp~/" \
-        --exclude=".private/" \
-        --exclude=".nfs*" \
-        $MIRROR/$REPO/ $BASE/$REPO/
-    echo_ts "... done"
-done
+# A list of update repos to sync eg 'updates/36 updates/37'
+UPDATE_REPOS=''
+if [ -n "$UPDATE_REPOS" ]; then
+    for REPO in "$UPDATE_REPOS"; do
+        if ! [ -f $BASE/$REPO ]; then
+            $K5START mkdir -p $BASE/$REPO
+        fi
+
+        echo_ts "Running rsync for $REPO..."
+        $K5START rsync -rltvz \
+            --delete \
+            --delete-excluded \
+            --exclude="aarch64/" \
+            --exclude="armhfp/" \
+            --exclude="i386/" \
+            --exclude="source/" \
+            --exclude="SRPMS/" \
+            --exclude="x86_64/debug" \
+            --exclude="x86_64/drpms" \
+            --exclude="snapshot/" \
+            --exclude=".~tmp~/" \
+            --exclude=".private/" \
+            --exclude=".nfs*" \
+            $MIRROR/$REPO/ $BASE/$REPO/
+        echo_ts "... done"
+    done
+fi
 
 # TODO(pabelanger): Validate rsync process