diff --git a/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py b/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
index 21d1fa8..19498f8 100644
--- a/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
+++ b/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
@@ -69,6 +69,54 @@
 # Environment variables for multi-node execution.
 _MULTI_NODE_NODE_INDEX_ENV_VAR_NAME = "_TANGLE_MULTI_NODE_NODE_INDEX"
 
+# Optional URL template for linking to pod logs in an external observability
+# platform when log acquisition fails. Set via TANGLE_LOG_SEARCH_URL_TEMPLATE.
+# Three placeholders are substituted at runtime:
+#   {pod_name}        — the Kubernetes pod name
+#   {start_iso8601_ms} — ISO 8601 UTC ms timestamp, started_at minus 5 min padding
+#                        (e.g. "2026-06-17T20:24:11.000Z"), or 24 h before now as fallback
+#   {end_iso8601_ms}   — ISO 8601 UTC ms timestamp, ended_at plus 5 min padding,
+#                        or now when the pod is still running / end time is unavailable
+# Example for Observe: see oasis-backend deployment config.
+_LOG_SEARCH_URL_TEMPLATE: str | None = os.environ.get("TANGLE_LOG_SEARCH_URL_TEMPLATE")
+
+_LOG_SEARCH_URL_TS_PADDING = datetime.timedelta(minutes=5)
+
+
+def _to_iso8601_ms(dt: datetime.datetime) -> str:
+    """Format a datetime as an ISO 8601 UTC string with millisecond precision."""
+    utc = dt.astimezone(datetime.timezone.utc)
+    return utc.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.") + f"{utc.microsecond // 1000:03d}Z"
+
+
+def _format_log_unavailable_message(
+    pod_name: str,
+    namespace: str,
+    started_at: "datetime.datetime | None",
+    ended_at: "datetime.datetime | None",
+) -> str:
+    """Return a placeholder log string when the Kubernetes API cannot be read."""
+    msg = (
+        f"[Log unavailable: Kubernetes API returned a malformed response. "
+        f"Pod: {pod_name}, Namespace: {namespace}."
+    )
+    if _LOG_SEARCH_URL_TEMPLATE:
+        now = datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc)
+        from_dt = (
+            (started_at - _LOG_SEARCH_URL_TS_PADDING)
+            if started_at
+            else (now - datetime.timedelta(hours=24))
+        )
+        to_dt = (ended_at + _LOG_SEARCH_URL_TS_PADDING) if ended_at else now
+        url = (
+            _LOG_SEARCH_URL_TEMPLATE.replace("{pod_name}", pod_name)
+            .replace("{start_iso8601_ms}", _to_iso8601_ms(from_dt))
+            .replace("{end_iso8601_ms}", _to_iso8601_ms(to_dt))
+        )
+        msg += f" Search: {url}"
+    msg += "]\n"
+    return msg
+
 
 _T = typing.TypeVar("_T")
 
@@ -944,7 +992,9 @@ def get_log(self) -> str:
                 self._pod_name,
                 exc_info=True,
             )
-            return ""
+            return _format_log_unavailable_message(
+                self._pod_name, self._namespace, self.started_at, self.ended_at
+            )
 
     def upload_log(self):
         launcher = self._get_launcher()
@@ -1528,7 +1578,9 @@ def _get_log_by_pod_key(self, pod_name: str) -> str | None:
                 pod_name,
                 exc_info=True,
             )
-            return None
+            return _format_log_unavailable_message(
+                pod_name, self._namespace, self.started_at, self.ended_at
+            )
 
     def _get_all_logs(self) -> dict[str, str]:
         logs = {}