diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
index cb7a8f76b2df..7f8ed406ad14 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
@@ -14882,7 +14882,7 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
                               instance)
 
     def test_private_destroy_ebusy_timeout(self):
-        # Tests that _destroy will retry 3 times to destroy the guest when an
+        # Tests that _destroy will retry 6 times to destroy the guest when an
         # EBUSY is raised, but eventually times out and raises the libvirtError
         ex = fakelibvirt.make_libvirtError(
                 fakelibvirt.libvirtError,
@@ -14902,7 +14902,7 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
             self.assertRaises(fakelibvirt.libvirtError, drvr._destroy,
                               instance)
 
-        self.assertEqual(3, mock_guest.poweroff.call_count)
+        self.assertEqual(6, mock_guest.poweroff.call_count)
 
     def test_private_destroy_ebusy_multiple_attempt_ok(self):
         # Tests that the _destroy attempt loop is broken when EBUSY is no
@@ -14928,6 +14928,37 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
 
         self.assertEqual(2, mock_guest.poweroff.call_count)
 
+    @mock.patch.object(libvirt_driver.LOG, 'warning')
+    @mock.patch.object(fakelibvirt.Connection, 'getLibVersion',
+                       return_value=versionutils.convert_version_to_int(
+                           libvirt_driver.MIN_LIBVIRT_BETTER_SIGKILL_HANDLING))
+    def test_min_libvirt_better_sigkill_handling_warning(self,
+                                                 mock_warning,
+                                                 mock_get_libversion):
+        ex = fakelibvirt.make_libvirtError(
+                fakelibvirt.libvirtError,
+                ("Failed to terminate process 26425 with SIGKILL: "
+                                     "Device or resource busy"),
+                error_code=fakelibvirt.VIR_ERR_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+                int1=errno.EBUSY)
+
+        mock_guest = mock.Mock(libvirt_guest.Guest, id=1)
+        mock_guest.poweroff = mock.Mock(side_effect=ex)
+
+        instance = objects.Instance(**self.test_instance)
+        drvr = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
+
+        with mock.patch.object(drvr._host, 'get_guest',
+                               return_value=mock_guest):
+            raised = self.assertRaises(fakelibvirt.libvirtError,
+                                       drvr._destroy,
+                                       instance)
+            self.assertEqual(fakelibvirt.VIR_ERR_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+                             raised.get_error_code())
+
+        mock_warning.assert_called_once()
+        mock_guest.poweroff.assert_called_once()
+
     @mock.patch.object(fakelibvirt.libvirtError, 'get_error_code')
     @mock.patch.object(host.Host, '_get_domain',
                        side_effect=exception.InstanceNotFound(
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 89622734ad0e..b8b7514d2de7 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -282,6 +282,11 @@ MIN_QEMU_FILE_BACKED_DISCARD_VERSION = (2, 10, 0)
 MIN_LIBVIRT_NATIVE_TLS_VERSION = (4, 4, 0)
 MIN_QEMU_NATIVE_TLS_VERSION = (2, 11, 0)
 
+# If the host has this libvirt version, then we skip the retry loop of
+# instance destroy() call, as libvirt itself increased the wait time
+# before the SIGKILL signal takes effect.
+MIN_LIBVIRT_BETTER_SIGKILL_HANDLING = (4, 7, 0)
+
 VGPU_RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE = "vgpu_resources"
 
 
@@ -1005,18 +1010,36 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
                         # steal time from the cloud host. ie 15 wallclock
                         # seconds may have passed, but the VM might have only
                         # have a few seconds of scheduled run time.
-                        LOG.warning('Error from libvirt during destroy. '
-                                    'Code=%(errcode)s Error=%(e)s; '
-                                    'attempt %(attempt)d of 3',
-                                    {'errcode': errcode, 'e': e,
-                                     'attempt': attempt},
-                                    instance=instance)
+                        #
+                        # TODO(kchamart): Once MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION
+                        # reaches v4.7.0, (a) rewrite the above note,
+                        # and (b) remove the following code that retries
+                        # _destroy() API call (which gives SIGKILL 30
+                        # seconds to take effect) -- because from v4.7.0
+                        # onwards, libvirt _automatically_ increases the
+                        # timeout to 30 seconds.  This was added in the
+                        # following libvirt commits:
+                        #
+                        #   - 9a4e4b942 (process: wait longer 5->30s on
+                        #     hard shutdown)
+                        #
+                        #   - be2ca0444 (process: wait longer on kill
+                        #     per assigned Hostdev)
                         with excutils.save_and_reraise_exception() as ctxt:
-                            # Try up to 3 times before giving up.
-                            if attempt < 3:
-                                ctxt.reraise = False
-                                self._destroy(instance, attempt + 1)
-                                return
+                            if not self._host.has_min_version(
+                                    MIN_LIBVIRT_BETTER_SIGKILL_HANDLING):
+                                LOG.warning('Error from libvirt during '
+                                            'destroy. Code=%(errcode)s '
+                                            'Error=%(e)s; attempt '
+                                            '%(attempt)d of 6 ',
+                                            {'errcode': errcode, 'e': e,
+                                             'attempt': attempt},
+                                            instance=instance)
+                                # Try up to 6 times before giving up.
+                                if attempt < 6:
+                                    ctxt.reraise = False
+                                    self._destroy(instance, attempt + 1)
+                                    return
 
                 if not is_okay:
                     with excutils.save_and_reraise_exception():