diff --git a/docs/release-notes/release-notes-v18.6.1.md b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-v18.6.1.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c0d26903d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-v18.6.1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+# Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL 18.6.1 ({{date.18_6_1}})
+
+--8<-- "release-notes-intro.md"
+
+This release of Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL is based on Percona Server for PostgreSQL 18.6.1 - a binary compatible, open source drop in replacement of [PostgreSQL Community 18.6](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/release-18-6.html).
+
+## Release Highlights
+
+This release continues to deliver Percona’s open source value-add components for enterprise use cases, `pg_tde` 2.2.2 for Transparent Data Encryption and more. See the full component list below for details.
+
+!!! note
+ `pg_tde` 2.2.2 requires Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL 18.4.2 at minimum. Earlier versions of PPG are not supported with this release of `pg_tde`.
+
+To upgrade from earlier versions (e.g. Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL 17.x), follow the steps in [Upgrading Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL](../major-upgrade.md).
+
+!!! note
+ Starting with this release, `shared_preload_libraries` is empty by default. Extensions such as `pg_tde` must be added manually.
+
+### Tarball updates
+
+The binary tarballs for x86_64 and ARM64 architectures have been updated in this release. The following libraries and components have new versions:
+
+- etcd: 3.5.33
+- haproxy: 2.8.27
+- patroni: 4.1.5
+- pg_tde: 2.2.2
+- pg_oidc_validator: 1.1
+- pgBackRest: 2.59.0
+- pgpool2: 4.7.2
+- pgvector: 0.8.6
+- postgis: 3.5.7
+- postgres-common: 293
+
+See [Install Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL from binary tarballs](../tarball.md) for the download links.
+
+### Addressed CVEs
+
+This release includes important security measures that address the following CVEs:
+
+- CVE-2026-6464
+- CVE-2026-6469
+- CVE-2026-6470
+- CVE-2026-6471
+- CVE-2026-14662
+- CVE-2026-14663
+- CVE-2026-14664
+- CVE-2026-14666
+- CVE-2026-14668
+- CVE-2026-14669
+- CVE-2026-14672
+- CVE-2026-14679
+- CVE-2026-14680
+- CVE-2026-14681
+- CVE-2026-15741
+- CVE-2026-16238
+- CVE-2026-16239
+- CVE-2026-16241
+- CVE-2026-18024
+
+For more details, see the [PostgreSQL 18.6 release notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/release-18-6.html).
+
+## Known Issues
+
+### For minor & major upgrades (RHEL only)
+
+During an upgrade on RHEL, you may encounter the following error:
+
+```bash
+Unknown Error occurred: Transaction test error:
+ file /usr/share/postgresql-common/server/postgresql.mk from install of percona-postgresql-common conflicts with file from package percona-postgresql-common-dev
+ file /usr/share/postgresql-common/t/040_upgrade.t from install of percona-postgresql-common conflicts with file from package percona-postgresql-common-dev
+```
+
+To resolve this, remove the `percona-postgresql-common-dev` package and reinstall it with the new intended upgraded PPG/PSP server.
+
+## MD5 Authentication Deprecated
+
+The md5 password authentication is deprecated now and will be removed in a future release.
+
+## Supplied third-party extensions
+
+Review each extension’s release notes for What’s new, improvements, or bug fixes.
+
+The following is the list of extensions available in Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL.
+
+| Extension | Version | Description |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| [etcd :octicons-link-external-16:](https://etcd.io/) | 3.5.33 | A distributed, reliable key-value store for setting up highly available Patroni clusters |
+| [python-etcd :octicons-link-external-16:](https://python-etcd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) | 0.4.5 | A Python client library for interacting with etcd |
+| [HAProxy :octicons-link-external-16:](https://www.haproxy.org/) | 2.8.27 | A high-availability and load-balancing solution |
+| [Patroni :octicons-link-external-16:](https://patroni.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) | 4.1.5 | A HA (High Availability) solution for PostgreSQL |
+| [PgAudit :octicons-link-external-16:](https://www.pgaudit.org/) | 18 | A detailed session or object audit logging via the standard logging facility provided by PostgreSQL |
+| [pgAudit set_user :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/pgaudit/set_user) | 4.2.0 | Provides an additional layer of logging and control when unprivileged users must escalate roles for maintenance |
+| [pgBackRest :octicons-link-external-16:](https://pgbackrest.org/) | 2.59.0 | A backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL |
+| [pgBadger :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/darold/pgbadger) | 13.2 | A fast PostgreSQL log analyzer |
+| [PgBouncer :octicons-link-external-16:](https://www.pgbouncer.org/) | 1.25.2 | A lightweight connection pooler for PostgreSQL |
+| [pg_cron :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cron) | 1.6.7 | A simple cron-based job scheduler for PostgreSQL |
+| [pg_gather :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/jobinau/pg_gather) | v33 | An SQL script for running diagnostics on the health of a PostgreSQL cluster |
+| [pg_oidc_validator](https://github.com/Percona-Lab/pg_oidc_validator) | 1.1 | OAuth validator library for PostgreSQL 18 |
+| [pg_repack :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/reorg/pg_repack) | 1.5.3 | Rebuilds PostgreSQL database objects |
+| [pg_stat_monitor](https://github.com/percona/pg_stat_monitor) | 2.3.2 | Collects and aggregates statistics for PostgreSQL and provides histogram information |
+| [pg_tde :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/percona/pg_tde) | v2.2.2 | A PostgreSQL extension that provides Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to protect data at rest |
+| [pg_vector](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector) | v0.8.6 | A vector similarity search extension for PostgreSQL |
+| [pgpool2 :octicons-link-external-16:](https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=pgpool2.git;a=summary) | 4.7.2 | A middleware between PostgreSQL server and client for high availability, connection pooling, and load balancing |
+| [PostGIS :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/postgis/postgis) | 3.5.7 | A spatial extension for PostgreSQL |
+| [PostgreSQL Commons :octicons-link-external-16:](https://salsa.debian.org/postgresql/postgresql-common) | 293 | PostgreSQL database-cluster manager. Supports multiple PostgreSQL versions and clusters simultaneously |
+| [wal2json :octicons-link-external-16:](https://github.com/eulerto/wal2json) | 2.6 | A PostgreSQL logical decoding JSON output plugin |
+
+For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and compatible derivatives, Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL also includes the supplemental `python3-etcd` 0.4.5 packages, which are used for setting up Patroni clusters.
+
+Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL is also shipped with the [libpq](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/libpq.html) library. It contains "a set of library functions that allow client programs to pass queries to the PostgreSQL backend server and to receive the results of these queries."
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/release-notes.md b/docs/release-notes/release-notes.md
index 616850e3d..71c1cd7d0 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes/release-notes.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ This page lists all release notes for Percona Server for PostgreSQL 18, organize
## 2026
+* [18.6.1](release-notes-v18.6.1.md) ({{date.18_6_1}})
* [18.4.2](release-notes-v18.4.2.md) ({{date.18_4_2}})
* [18.4.1](release-notes-v18.4.1.md) ({{date.18_4_1}})
* [18.3.1](release-notes-v18.3.1.md) ({{date.18_3_1}})
diff --git a/docs/templates/pdf_cover_page.tpl b/docs/templates/pdf_cover_page.tpl
index 90a0d5624..2ba78104b 100644
--- a/docs/templates/pdf_cover_page.tpl
+++ b/docs/templates/pdf_cover_page.tpl
@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@
{% if config.site_description %}
{{ config.site_description }}
{% endif %}
-18.4.2 (July 06, 2026)
+18.6.1 (TBD)
diff --git a/variables.yml b/variables.yml
index b3498c3fa..ce0cf1e3d 100644
--- a/variables.yml
+++ b/variables.yml
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
# PG Variables set for HTML output
# See also mkdocs.yml plugins.with-pdf.cover_subtitle and output_path
-release: 'release-notes-v18.4.2'
-dockertag: '18.4'
-pgsubversion: '18.4'
+release: 'release-notes-v18.6.1'
+dockertag: '18.6'
+pgsubversion: '18.6'
pgversion: '18'
-pspgversion: '18.4.2'
+pspgversion: '18.6.1'
pgsmversion: '2.3.2'
pgbouncerversion: '1.25.2'
-pgbackrestversion: '2.58.0'
-
+pgbackrestversion: '2.59.0'
date:
+ 18_6_1: TBD
18_4_2: 2026-07-06
18_4_1: 2026-05-20
18_3_1: 2026-03-02