diff --git a/walkeeper/src/replication.rs b/walkeeper/src/replication.rs
index 1975f91ac4..b6cbfdec12 100644
--- a/walkeeper/src/replication.rs
+++ b/walkeeper/src/replication.rs
@@ -130,16 +130,16 @@ impl ReplicationConn {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    /// Helper function that parses a pair of LSNs.
-    fn parse_start_stop(cmd: &[u8]) -> Result<(Lsn, Lsn)> {
+    /// Helper function that parses a single LSN.
+    fn parse_start(cmd: &[u8]) -> Result<Lsn> {
         let re = Regex::new(r"([[:xdigit:]]+/[[:xdigit:]]+)").unwrap();
         let caps = re.captures_iter(str::from_utf8(cmd)?);
         let mut lsns = caps.map(|cap| cap[1].parse::<Lsn>());
         let start_pos = lsns
             .next()
             .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Failed to parse start LSN from command"))??;
-        let stop_pos = lsns.next().transpose()?.unwrap_or(Lsn(0));
-        Ok((start_pos, stop_pos))
+        assert!(lsns.next().is_none());
+        Ok(start_pos)
     }
 
     /// Helper function for opening a wal file.
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ impl ReplicationConn {
             })
             .unwrap();
 
-        let (mut start_pos, mut stop_pos) = Self::parse_start_stop(cmd)?;
+        let mut start_pos = Self::parse_start(cmd)?;
 
         let mut wal_seg_size: usize;
         loop {
@@ -194,14 +194,8 @@ impl ReplicationConn {
                 break;
             }
         }
-        let (wal_end, timeline) = swh.timeline.get().get_end_of_wal();
-        if start_pos == Lsn(0) {
-            start_pos = wal_end;
-        }
-        if stop_pos == Lsn(0) && swh.appname == Some("wal_proposer_recovery".to_string()) {
-            stop_pos = wal_end;
-        }
-        info!("Start replication from {} till {}", start_pos, stop_pos);
+        let (_, timeline) = swh.timeline.get().get_end_of_wal();
+        info!("Start replication from {}", start_pos);
 
         // switch to copy
         pgb.write_message(&BeMessage::CopyBothResponse)?;
@@ -211,28 +205,17 @@ impl ReplicationConn {
 
         loop {
             /* Wait until we have some data to stream */
-            if stop_pos != Lsn(0) {
-                /* recovery mode: stream up to the specified LSN (VCL) */
-                if start_pos >= stop_pos {
-                    /* recovery finished */
-                    break;
-                }
-                end_pos = stop_pos;
+            if let Some(lsn) = swh.timeline.get().wait_for_lsn(start_pos) {
+                end_pos = lsn
             } else {
-                /* normal mode */
-                let timeline = swh.timeline.get();
-                if let Some(lsn) = timeline.wait_for_lsn(start_pos) {
-                    end_pos = lsn
-                } else {
-                    // timeout expired: request pageserver status
-                    pgb.write_message(&BeMessage::KeepAlive(WalSndKeepAlive {
-                        sent_ptr: end_pos.0,
-                        timestamp: get_current_timestamp(),
-                        request_reply: true,
-                    }))
-                    .context("Failed to send KeepAlive message")?;
-                    continue;
-                }
+                // timeout expired: request pageserver status
+                pgb.write_message(&BeMessage::KeepAlive(WalSndKeepAlive {
+                    sent_ptr: end_pos.0,
+                    timestamp: get_current_timestamp(),
+                    request_reply: true,
+                }))
+                .context("Failed to send KeepAlive message")?;
+                continue;
             }
             if end_pos == END_REPLICATION_MARKER {
                 break;