diff --git a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentVisitor.java b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentVisitor.java
index 372279fa2b..c88590eab6 100644
--- a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentVisitor.java
+++ b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentVisitor.java
@@ -44,7 +44,13 @@ public Xml visitTag(Xml.Tag tag, P p) {
                     int indexOf = contents.indexOf(content);
                     contents.remove(indexOf);
 
-                    if (removePrecedingComment && 0 < indexOf && contents.get(indexOf - 1) instanceof Xml.Comment) {
+                    if (indexOf < contents.size() && content.getPrefix().contains("\n") &&
+                        !contents.get(indexOf).getPrefix().contains("\n")) {
+                        contents.set(indexOf, (Content) contents.get(indexOf).withPrefix(content.getPrefix()));
+                    }
+
+                    if (removePrecedingComment && 0 < indexOf && contents.get(indexOf - 1) instanceof Xml.Comment &&
+                        !isTrailingComment(contents, indexOf - 1)) {
                         doAfterVisit(new RemoveContentVisitor<>(contents.get(indexOf - 1), true, removePrecedingComment));
                     }
 
@@ -63,4 +69,11 @@ public Xml visitTag(Xml.Tag tag, P p) {
 
         return t;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * A comment that shares a line with the sibling before it documents that sibling, not the one after it.
+     */
+    private static boolean isTrailingComment(List<Content> contents, int index) {
+        return 0 < index && !contents.get(index).getPrefix().contains("\n");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor.java b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor.java
index 51160e67ff..5d2104ac32 100644
--- a/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor.java
+++ b/rewrite-xml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor.java
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@
 import org.openrewrite.xml.XmlIsoVisitor;
 import org.openrewrite.xml.tree.Xml;
 
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
 public class RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor<P> extends XmlIsoVisitor<P> {
+    private static final Pattern TRAILING_WHITESPACE = Pattern.compile("[ \\t]+(?=[\\r\\n]|$)");
+
     @Nullable
     private final Tree stopAfter;
 
@@ -34,10 +38,8 @@ public RemoveTrailingWhitespaceVisitor(@Nullable Tree stopAfter) {
 
     @Override
     public Xml.Document visitDocument(Xml.Document doc, P p) {
-        String eof = doc.getEof();
-        eof = eof.chars().filter(c -> c == '\n' || c == '\r')
-                .collect(StringBuilder::new, StringBuilder::appendCodePoint, StringBuilder::append)
-                .toString();
+        // `eof` holds everything after the root element, comments and processing instructions included
+        String eof = TRAILING_WHITESPACE.matcher(doc.getEof()).replaceAll("");
 
         Xml.Document d = super.visitDocument(doc, p);
         return d.withEof(eof);
diff --git a/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentTest.java b/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentTest.java
index 0e23b2a80a..d049b2c07f 100755
--- a/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentTest.java
+++ b/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/RemoveContentTest.java
@@ -112,4 +112,84 @@ public Xml visitDocument(Xml.Document x, ExecutionContext ctx) {
           )
         );
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void trailingCommentKeepsItsOwnLine() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          spec -> spec.recipe(toRecipe(() -> new XmlVisitor<>() {
+              @Override
+              public Xml visitDocument(Xml.Document x, ExecutionContext ctx) {
+                  doAfterVisit(new RemoveContentVisitor<>(requireNonNull(x.getRoot().getContent()).get(1), false, false));
+                  return super.visitDocument(x, ctx);
+              }
+          }).withMaxCycles(1)),
+          xml(
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId>
+                  <version/><!-- why version -->
+              </dependency>
+              """,
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId>
+                  <!-- why version -->
+              </dependency>
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void precedingCommentOnTheLineOfAnEarlierSiblingIsRetained() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          spec -> spec.recipe(toRecipe(() -> new XmlVisitor<>() {
+              @Override
+              public Xml visitDocument(Xml.Document x, ExecutionContext ctx) {
+                  doAfterVisit(new RemoveContentVisitor<>(requireNonNull(x.getRoot().getContent()).get(2), false, true));
+                  return super.visitDocument(x, ctx);
+              }
+          }).withMaxCycles(1)),
+          xml(
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId> <!-- why group -->
+                  <version/>
+              </dependency>
+              """,
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId> <!-- why group -->
+              </dependency>
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void precedingCommentOnItsOwnLineIsRemoved() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          spec -> spec.recipe(toRecipe(() -> new XmlVisitor<>() {
+              @Override
+              public Xml visitDocument(Xml.Document x, ExecutionContext ctx) {
+                  doAfterVisit(new RemoveContentVisitor<>(requireNonNull(x.getRoot().getContent()).get(2), false, true));
+                  return super.visitDocument(x, ctx);
+              }
+          }).withMaxCycles(1)),
+          xml(
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId>
+                  <!-- why version -->
+                  <version/>
+              </dependency>
+              """,
+            """
+              <dependency>
+                  <groupId>group</groupId>
+              </dependency>
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/AutoFormatTest.java b/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/AutoFormatTest.java
index f4e940ed86..ebb669f36f 100644
--- a/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/AutoFormatTest.java
+++ b/rewrite-xml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/xml/format/AutoFormatTest.java
@@ -173,4 +173,53 @@ void misindentedTrailingCommentIsStillIndented() {
           )
         );
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void commentAfterRootElementIsRetained() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          xml(
+            """
+              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+              <project>
+                <excludes/>
+              </project>
+              <!--why project-->
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void commentTrailingRootElementIsRetained() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          xml(
+            """
+              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+              <project>
+                <excludes/>
+              </project> <!--why project-->
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void trailingWhitespaceAfterRootElementIsRemoved() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          xml(
+            """
+              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+              <project>
+                <excludes/>
+              </project>   \s
+              """,
+            """
+              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+              <project>
+                <excludes/>
+              </project>
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
 }