diff --git a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatement.java b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatement.java
index c9b6733e7..ebd142ef2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatement.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatement.java
@@ -770,6 +770,15 @@ static boolean shouldReturnResultSet(String query, List<String> nonRowcountQuery
       return true;
     }
 
+    // DML statements (INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE / MERGE) always return an update count per the
+    // JDBC spec, even when their subqueries or CTEs contain UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT. Without
+    // this short-circuit the non-anchored UNION_PATTERN et al. below match anywhere in the SQL
+    // and mis-classify DML — including the column-exclusion form `SELECT * EXCEPT (col)`. See
+    // https://github.com/databricks/databricks-jdbc/issues/1418.
+    if (DML_PREFIX_PATTERN.matcher(trimmedQuery).find()) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
     // Check if the query matches any of the patterns that return a ResultSet
     return SELECT_PATTERN.matcher(trimmedQuery).find()
         || SHOW_PATTERN.matcher(trimmedQuery).find()
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/common/DatabricksJdbcConstants.java b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/common/DatabricksJdbcConstants.java
index 7849411f5..568277c42 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/common/DatabricksJdbcConstants.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/common/DatabricksJdbcConstants.java
@@ -177,6 +177,14 @@ public enum FakeServiceType {
   public static final Pattern CALL_PATTERN =
       Pattern.compile("^(\\s*\\()*\\s*CALL", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
 
+  /**
+   * Matches statements whose leading keyword is a DML (INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE / MERGE). Unlike
+   * {@link #INSERT_PATTERN} this also accepts {@code INSERT OVERWRITE ...} (not just {@code INSERT
+   * INTO ...}) and does not share the batching parser's expectations, so it is safe to broaden.
+   */
+  public static final Pattern DML_PREFIX_PATTERN =
+      Pattern.compile("^(\\s*\\()*\\s*(INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|MERGE)\\s+", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+
   /** Maximum number of parameters allowed in a single Databricks query */
   public static final int MAX_QUERY_PARAMETERS = 256;
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatementTest.java b/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatementTest.java
index ff5d9e7ec..3b9d416f2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatementTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/api/impl/DatabricksStatementTest.java
@@ -581,6 +581,84 @@ public void testShouldReturnResultSet_ExceptQuery() {
     assertTrue(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
   }
 
+  // https://github.com/databricks/databricks-jdbc/issues/1418 — DML statements whose subqueries
+  // or CTEs contain UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT were being mis-classified as ResultSet-producing.
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_InsertWithUnionInSubquery() {
+    String query =
+        "INSERT INTO my_catalog.my_schema.target_table "
+            + "SELECT * FROM ( "
+            + "  SELECT col1, col2 FROM src WHERE 1 = 0 "
+            + "  UNION ALL "
+            + "  SELECT col1, col2 FROM src WHERE 1 = 0 "
+            + ") t";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_InsertWithIntersectInSubquery() {
+    String query = "INSERT INTO t SELECT x FROM (SELECT x FROM a INTERSECT SELECT x FROM b) s";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_InsertWithExceptInSubquery() {
+    String query = "INSERT INTO t SELECT x FROM (SELECT x FROM a EXCEPT SELECT x FROM b) s";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_InsertWithSelectStarExceptColumnExclusion() {
+    // `SELECT * EXCEPT (col)` is Databricks column-exclusion syntax, not a set operator.
+    String query = "INSERT INTO t SELECT * EXCEPT (secret_col) FROM source";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_InsertOverwriteDirectoryWithIntersect() {
+    String query =
+        "INSERT OVERWRITE DIRECTORY 's3://bucket/path' USING CSV "
+            + "SELECT x FROM a INTERSECT SELECT x FROM b";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_UpdateWithUnionInSubquery() {
+    String query = "UPDATE t SET col = (SELECT x FROM a UNION SELECT x FROM b LIMIT 1)";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_DeleteWithExceptInSubquery() {
+    String query = "DELETE FROM t WHERE id IN (SELECT id FROM a EXCEPT SELECT id FROM b)";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_MergeWithUnionInSource() {
+    String query =
+        "MERGE INTO target t USING (SELECT id FROM a UNION SELECT id FROM b) s "
+            + "ON t.id = s.id WHEN MATCHED THEN DELETE";
+    assertFalse(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_DmlPrefixOverriddenByNonRowcountConfig() {
+    // The NonRowcountQueryPrefixes opt-in path must still win over the DML short-circuit.
+    String query = "INSERT INTO t VALUES (1)";
+    assertTrue(
+        DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Arrays.asList("INSERT")),
+        "NonRowcountQueryPrefixes=INSERT should force ResultSet mode");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testShouldReturnResultSet_TopLevelParenthesizedUnionStillMatches() {
+    // Regression guard: top-level set operations starting with `(` still classify as ResultSet
+    // via SELECT_PATTERN's `^(\s*\()*\s*SELECT` prefix.
+    String query = "(SELECT a FROM t1) UNION (SELECT a FROM t2)";
+    assertTrue(DatabricksStatement.shouldReturnResultSet(query, Collections.emptyList()));
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testShouldReturnResultSet_DeclareQuery() {
     String query = "DECLARE @var INT;";