diff --git a/cloudbuild/zb-system-tests-cloudbuild.yaml b/cloudbuild/zb-system-tests-cloudbuild.yaml
index 562eae175..26daa8ae9 100644
--- a/cloudbuild/zb-system-tests-cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/cloudbuild/zb-system-tests-cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ steps:
         # Execute the script on the VM via SSH.
         # Capture the exit code to ensure cleanup happens before the build fails.
         set +e
-        gcloud compute ssh ${_VM_NAME} --zone=${_ZONE} --internal-ip --ssh-key-file=/workspace/.ssh/google_compute_engine --command="ulimit -n {_ULIMIT}; COMMIT_SHA=${COMMIT_SHA} _ZONAL_BUCKET=${_ZONAL_BUCKET} _PR_NUMBER=${_PR_NUMBER} bash run_zonal_tests.sh"
+        gcloud compute ssh ${_VM_NAME} --zone=${_ZONE} --internal-ip --ssh-key-file=/workspace/.ssh/google_compute_engine --command="ulimit -n {_ULIMIT}; COMMIT_SHA=${COMMIT_SHA} _ZONAL_BUCKET=${_ZONAL_BUCKET} CROSS_REGION_BUCKET=${_CROSS_REGION_BUCKET} _PR_NUMBER=${_PR_NUMBER} bash run_zonal_tests.sh"
         EXIT_CODE=$?
         set -e
 
diff --git a/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_multi_range_downloader.py b/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_multi_range_downloader.py
index 3ee773a04..d4ba6727b 100644
--- a/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_multi_range_downloader.py
+++ b/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_multi_range_downloader.py
@@ -228,6 +228,8 @@ def __init__(
         self._read_id_to_download_ranges_id = {}
         self._download_ranges_id_to_pending_read_ids = {}
         self.persisted_size: Optional[int] = None  # updated after opening the stream
+        self._open_retries: int = 0
+
 
     async def __aenter__(self):
         """Opens the underlying bidi-gRPC connection to read from the object."""
@@ -257,13 +259,18 @@ async def open(
             raise ValueError("Underlying bidi-gRPC stream is already open")
 
         if retry_policy is None:
+            def on_error_wrapper(exc):
+                self._open_retries += 1
+                self._on_open_error(exc)
+
             retry_policy = AsyncRetry(
-                predicate=_is_read_retryable, on_error=self._on_open_error
+                predicate=_is_read_retryable, on_error=on_error_wrapper
             )
         else:
             original_on_error = retry_policy._on_error
 
             def combined_on_error(exc):
+                self._open_retries += 1
                 self._on_open_error(exc)
                 if original_on_error:
                     original_on_error(exc)
diff --git a/tests/system/test_zonal.py b/tests/system/test_zonal.py
index 49c0ac7da..01d9a7c01 100644
--- a/tests/system/test_zonal.py
+++ b/tests/system/test_zonal.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 # TODO: replace this with a fixture once zonal bucket creation / deletion
 # is supported in grpc client or json client client.
 _ZONAL_BUCKET = os.getenv("ZONAL_BUCKET")
+_CROSS_REGION_BUCKET = os.getenv("CROSS_REGION_BUCKET")
 _BYTES_TO_UPLOAD = b"dummy_bytes_to_write_read_and_delete_appendable_object"
 
 
@@ -82,6 +83,51 @@ def _get_equal_dist(a: int, b: int) -> tuple[int, int]:
     return a + step, a + 2 * step
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "object_size",
+    [
+        256,  # less than _chunk size
+        10 * 1024 * 1024,  # less than _MAX_BUFFER_SIZE_BYTES
+        20 * 1024 * 1024,  # greater than _MAX_BUFFER_SIZE
+    ],
+)
+def test_basic_wrd_x_region(
+    storage_client,
+    blobs_to_delete,
+    object_size,
+    event_loop,
+    grpc_client,
+):
+    object_name = f"test_basic_wrd-{str(uuid.uuid4())}"
+
+    async def _run():
+        object_data = os.urandom(object_size)
+        object_checksum = google_crc32c.value(object_data)
+
+        writer = AsyncAppendableObjectWriter(grpc_client, _CROSS_REGION_BUCKET, object_name)
+        await writer.open()
+        await writer.append(object_data)
+        object_metadata = await writer.close(finalize_on_close=True)
+        assert object_metadata.size == object_size
+        assert int(object_metadata.checksums.crc32c) == object_checksum
+
+        buffer = BytesIO()
+        mrd = AsyncMultiRangeDownloader(grpc_client, _CROSS_REGION_BUCKET, object_name)
+        async with mrd:
+            assert mrd._open_retries == 1
+            # (0, 0) means read the whole object
+            await mrd.download_ranges([(0, 0, buffer)])
+            assert mrd.persisted_size == object_size
+
+        assert buffer.getvalue() == object_data
+
+        # Clean up; use json client (i.e. `storage_client` fixture) to delete.
+        blobs_to_delete.append(storage_client.bucket(_CROSS_REGION_BUCKET).blob(object_name))
+        del writer
+        gc.collect()
+
+    event_loop.run_until_complete(_run())
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "object_size",
     [