diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-project-in-dir.yml b/.github/workflows/release-project-in-dir.yml
index dc79b6f6c2..02280d5a1f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-project-in-dir.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-project-in-dir.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ jobs:
           java-version: 17
           distribution: temurin
           cache: 'maven'
+          server-id: central
+          server-username: MAVEN_USERNAME
+          server-password: MAVEN_CENTRAL_TOKEN
+          gpg-private-key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+          gpg-passphrase: MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE
 
       - name: Change version to release version
         # Assume that RELEASE_VERSION will have form like: "v1.0.1". So we cut the "v"
@@ -37,15 +42,12 @@ jobs:
         env:
           RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
 
-      - name: Release Maven package
-        uses: samuelmeuli/action-maven-publish@v1
-        with:
-          maven_profiles: "release"
-          maven_args: ${{ env.MAVEN_ARGS }}
-          gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          gpg_passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
-          nexus_username: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_USERNAME }}
-          nexus_password: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Publish to Apache Maven Central
+        run: mvn package deploy -Prelease
+        env:
+          MAVEN_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.NEXUS_USERNAME }}
+          MAVEN_CENTRAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NEXUS_PASSWORD }}
+          MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
 
   # This is separate job because there were issues with git after release step, was not able to commit changes.
   update-working-version:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e7826ce613..1ceb5b2b6c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ jobs:
           echo "Setting version_branch to v4"
           echo "tmp_version_branch=v4" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - if: ${{ startsWith(github.event.release.tag_name, 'v5.' ) }}
+        run: |
+          echo "Setting version_branch to 5.0.x"
+          echo "tmp_version_branch=5.0.x" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+      - if: ${{ startsWith(github.event.release.tag_name, 'v6.' ) }}
         run: |
           echo "Setting version_branch to main"
           echo "tmp_version_branch=main" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/snapshot-releases.yml b/.github/workflows/snapshot-releases.yml
index 66fe9d25a3..f9219d1278 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/snapshot-releases.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/snapshot-releases.yml
@@ -33,14 +33,18 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Java and Maven
         uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
-          distribution: temurin
           java-version: 17
+          distribution: temurin
           cache: 'maven'
-      - name: Release Maven package
-        uses: samuelmeuli/action-maven-publish@v1
-        with:
-          maven_profiles: "release"
-          gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          gpg_passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
-          nexus_username: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_USERNAME }}
-          nexus_password: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_TOKEN }}
+          server-id: central
+          server-username: MAVEN_USERNAME
+          server-password: MAVEN_CENTRAL_TOKEN
+          gpg-private-key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+          gpg-passphrase: MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE
+
+      - name: Publish to Apache Maven Central
+        run: mvn package deploy -Prelease
+        env:
+          MAVEN_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.NEXUS_USERNAME }}
+          MAVEN_CENTRAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NEXUS_PASSWORD }}
+          MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
diff --git a/bootstrapper-maven-plugin/pom.xml b/bootstrapper-maven-plugin/pom.xml
index 535945760f..1ab08b975a 100644
--- a/bootstrapper-maven-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/bootstrapper-maven-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>bootstrapper</artifactId>
diff --git a/caffeine-bounded-cache-support/pom.xml b/caffeine-bounded-cache-support/pom.xml
index bd51e0af11..924164c6cb 100644
--- a/caffeine-bounded-cache-support/pom.xml
+++ b/caffeine-bounded-cache-support/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>caffeine-bounded-cache-support</artifactId>
diff --git a/micrometer-support/pom.xml b/micrometer-support/pom.xml
index 67fe0d4b4c..3c568e76fd 100644
--- a/micrometer-support/pom.xml
+++ b/micrometer-support/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>micrometer-support</artifactId>
diff --git a/operator-framework-bom/pom.xml b/operator-framework-bom/pom.xml
index d0bae9c140..ce3963ef3a 100644
--- a/operator-framework-bom/pom.xml
+++ b/operator-framework-bom/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
   <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
   <artifactId>operator-framework-bom</artifactId>
-  <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <name>Operator SDK - Bill of Materials</name>
   <description>Java SDK for implementing Kubernetes operators</description>
@@ -33,19 +33,12 @@
     <url>https://github.com/operator-framework/java-operator-sdk/tree/master</url>
   </scm>
 
-  <distributionManagement>
-    <snapshotRepository>
-      <id>ossrh</id>
-      <url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
-    </snapshotRepository>
-  </distributionManagement>
-
   <properties>
-    <nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version>1.7.0</nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version>
-    <maven-gpg-plugin.version>3.2.7</maven-gpg-plugin.version>
+    <maven-gpg-plugin.version>3.2.8</maven-gpg-plugin.version>
     <maven-source-plugin.version>3.3.1</maven-source-plugin.version>
     <maven-javadoc-plugin.version>3.11.2</maven-javadoc-plugin.version>
     <spotless.version>2.44.3</spotless.version>
+    <central-publishing-maven-plugin.version>0.8.0</central-publishing-maven-plugin.version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
@@ -115,6 +108,17 @@
       <id>release</id>
       <build>
         <plugins>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+              <excludes>
+                <exclude>**/*IT.java</exclude>
+                <exclude>**/*E2E.java</exclude>
+                <exclude>**/InformerRelatedBehaviorTest.java</exclude>
+              </excludes>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -138,13 +142,13 @@
                 <goals>
                   <goal>jar</goal>
                 </goals>
+                <phase>verify</phase>
               </execution>
             </executions>
           </plugin>
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>${maven-gpg-plugin.version}</version>
             <executions>
               <execution>
                 <id>sign-artifacts</id>
@@ -162,14 +166,15 @@
             </executions>
           </plugin>
           <plugin>
-            <groupId>org.sonatype.plugins</groupId>
-            <artifactId>nexus-staging-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>${nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version}</version>
+            <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
+            <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>${central-publishing-maven-plugin.version}</version>
             <extensions>true</extensions>
             <configuration>
-              <serverId>ossrh</serverId>
-              <nexusUrl>https://oss.sonatype.org/</nexusUrl>
-              <autoReleaseAfterClose>true</autoReleaseAfterClose>
+              <publishingServerId>central</publishingServerId>
+              <tokenAuth>true</tokenAuth>
+              <autoPublish>true</autoPublish>
+              <waitUntil>published</waitUntil>
             </configuration>
           </plugin>
         </plugins>
diff --git a/operator-framework-core/pom.xml b/operator-framework-core/pom.xml
index a4dc87a3d3..cad50ebc32 100644
--- a/operator-framework-core/pom.xml
+++ b/operator-framework-core/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
   </parent>
 
diff --git a/operator-framework-junit5/pom.xml b/operator-framework-junit5/pom.xml
index d2075303be..7e68616edf 100644
--- a/operator-framework-junit5/pom.xml
+++ b/operator-framework-junit5/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>operator-framework-junit-5</artifactId>
diff --git a/operator-framework/pom.xml b/operator-framework/pom.xml
index e2aae87401..cb49b0d39b 100644
--- a/operator-framework/pom.xml
+++ b/operator-framework/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>operator-framework</artifactId>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6e7482f024..12bfc14961 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
   <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
   <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-  <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <name>Operator SDK for Java</name>
   <description>Java SDK for implementing Kubernetes operators</description>
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     <fabric8-httpclient-impl.name>jdk</fabric8-httpclient-impl.name>
 
     <junit.version>5.12.0</junit.version>
-    <fabric8-client.version>7.1.0</fabric8-client.version>
+    <fabric8-client.version>7.2.0</fabric8-client.version>
     <slf4j.version>2.0.12</slf4j.version>
     <log4j.version>2.24.3</log4j.version>
     <mokito.version>5.16.0</mokito.version>
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@
 
     <fmt-maven-plugin.version>2.11</fmt-maven-plugin.version>
     <maven-compiler-plugin.version>3.14.0</maven-compiler-plugin.version>
-    <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.5.2</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
+    <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.5.3</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
+    <central-publishing-maven-plugin.version>0.8.0</central-publishing-maven-plugin.version>
     <maven-javadoc-plugin.version>3.11.2</maven-javadoc-plugin.version>
     <maven-resources-plugin.version>3.3.1</maven-resources-plugin.version>
     <maven-source-plugin.version>3.3.1</maven-source-plugin.version>
@@ -294,6 +295,15 @@
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
           <version>${maven-source-plugin.version}</version>
+          <executions>
+            <execution>
+              <id>attach-sources</id>
+              <goals>
+                <goal>jar</goal>
+              </goals>
+              <phase>verify</phase>
+            </execution>
+          </executions>
         </plugin>
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -516,14 +526,6 @@
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
-            <executions>
-              <execution>
-                <id>attach-sources</id>
-                <goals>
-                  <goal>jar</goal>
-                </goals>
-              </execution>
-            </executions>
           </plugin>
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -545,14 +547,15 @@
             </executions>
           </plugin>
           <plugin>
-            <groupId>org.sonatype.plugins</groupId>
-            <artifactId>nexus-staging-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>${nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version}</version>
+            <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
+            <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>${central-publishing-maven-plugin.version}</version>
             <extensions>true</extensions>
             <configuration>
-              <serverId>ossrh</serverId>
-              <nexusUrl>https://oss.sonatype.org/</nexusUrl>
-              <autoReleaseAfterClose>true</autoReleaseAfterClose>
+              <publishingServerId>central</publishingServerId>
+              <tokenAuth>true</tokenAuth>
+              <autoPublish>true</autoPublish>
+              <waitUntil>published</waitUntil>
             </configuration>
           </plugin>
         </plugins>
diff --git a/sample-operators/controller-namespace-deletion/pom.xml b/sample-operators/controller-namespace-deletion/pom.xml
index 9608b44db1..ee0d5bb3d2 100644
--- a/sample-operators/controller-namespace-deletion/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/controller-namespace-deletion/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-controller-namespace-deletion</artifactId>
diff --git a/sample-operators/leader-election/pom.xml b/sample-operators/leader-election/pom.xml
index 74aab104f1..4b1088fa3b 100644
--- a/sample-operators/leader-election/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/leader-election/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-leader-election</artifactId>
diff --git a/sample-operators/mysql-schema/pom.xml b/sample-operators/mysql-schema/pom.xml
index e726a2242a..92a5cb5c45 100644
--- a/sample-operators/mysql-schema/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/mysql-schema/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-mysql-schema-operator</artifactId>
diff --git a/sample-operators/pom.xml b/sample-operators/pom.xml
index 450a6bc153..cbe10340fc 100644
--- a/sample-operators/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>java-operator-sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
diff --git a/sample-operators/tomcat-operator/pom.xml b/sample-operators/tomcat-operator/pom.xml
index 314e0ef96c..cd340c525d 100644
--- a/sample-operators/tomcat-operator/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/tomcat-operator/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-tomcat-operator</artifactId>
diff --git a/sample-operators/webpage/pom.xml b/sample-operators/webpage/pom.xml
index 2266303adc..6ae09c835d 100644
--- a/sample-operators/webpage/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/webpage/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>io.javaoperatorsdk</groupId>
     <artifactId>sample-operators</artifactId>
-    <version>5.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>sample-webpage-operator</artifactId>