diff --git a/app/events/projects/release_published_event.rb b/app/events/projects/release_published_event.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f0be95b893ed804c27362b5162e75d1cc430c180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/events/projects/release_published_event.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Projects
+  class ReleasePublishedEvent < ::Gitlab::EventStore::Event
+    def schema
+      {
+        'type' => 'object',
+        'properties' => {
+          'release_id' => { 'type' => 'integer' }
+        },
+        'required' => %w[release_id]
+      }
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/models/release.rb b/app/models/release.rb
index 1cd623e1254a440e744552709fd676d0d4763a92..7bacc69f038239bed23109a298a365db6b9efb42 100644
--- a/app/models/release.rb
+++ b/app/models/release.rb
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class Release < ApplicationRecord
   scope :recent, -> { sorted.limit(MAX_NUMBER_TO_DISPLAY) }
   scope :without_evidence, -> { left_joins(:evidences).where(::Releases::Evidence.arel_table[:id].eq(nil)) }
   scope :released_within_2hrs, -> { where(released_at: Time.zone.now - 1.hour..Time.zone.now + 1.hour) }
+  scope :unpublished, -> { where(release_published_at: nil) }
   scope :for_projects, ->(projects) { where(project_id: projects) }
   scope :by_tag, ->(tag) { where(tag: tag) }
 
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ class Release < ApplicationRecord
   delegate :repository, to: :project
 
   MAX_NUMBER_TO_DISPLAY = 3
+  MAX_NUMBER_TO_PUBLISH = 5000
 
   class << self
     # In the future, we should support `order_by=semver`;
@@ -97,6 +99,10 @@ def latest_for_projects(projects, order_by: 'released_at')
         .from("(VALUES #{project_ids_list}) projects (id)")
         .joins("INNER JOIN LATERAL (#{join_query.to_sql}) #{Release.table_name} ON TRUE")
     end
+
+    def waiting_for_publish_event
+      unpublished.released_within_2hrs.joins(:project).merge(Project.with_feature_enabled(:releases)).limit(MAX_NUMBER_TO_PUBLISH)
+    end
   end
 
   def to_param
diff --git a/app/workers/all_queues.yml b/app/workers/all_queues.yml
index ec5156bb1d0de3f88978d50ede0b769928f12d98..90198e99433695034e7aff96305c9233138c214b 100644
--- a/app/workers/all_queues.yml
+++ b/app/workers/all_queues.yml
@@ -786,6 +786,15 @@
   :weight: 1
   :idempotent: false
   :tags: []
+- :name: cronjob:releases_publish_event
+  :worker_name: Releases::PublishEventWorker
+  :feature_category: :release_orchestration
+  :has_external_dependencies: false
+  :urgency: :low
+  :resource_boundary: :unknown
+  :weight: 1
+  :idempotent: true
+  :tags: []
 - :name: cronjob:remove_expired_group_links
   :worker_name: RemoveExpiredGroupLinksWorker
   :feature_category: :system_access
diff --git a/app/workers/releases/publish_event_worker.rb b/app/workers/releases/publish_event_worker.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8bcc580dceb6c4892411d9dc84bcf7bc482a85c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/workers/releases/publish_event_worker.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Releases
+  class PublishEventWorker
+    include ApplicationWorker
+    include CronjobQueue
+
+    idempotent!
+    data_consistency :always # rubocop:disable SidekiqLoadBalancing/WorkerDataConsistency -- usual for EventStore jobs.
+    feature_category :release_orchestration
+
+    def perform
+      releases_published = 0
+
+      Release.waiting_for_publish_event.each_batch(of: 100) do |releases|
+        releases.each do |release|
+          with_context(project: release.project) do
+            ::Gitlab::EventStore.publish(
+              ::Projects::ReleasePublishedEvent.new(data: { release_id: release.id })
+            )
+
+            releases_published += 1
+          end
+        end
+
+        releases.touch_all(:release_published_at)
+      end
+
+      log_extra_metadata_on_done(:releases_published, releases_published) if releases_published > 0
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
index ade5465f8ea7ab8da1927e0a839adcf896cca2cd..cd2bfd85d0a303901d7484566476918923737ca3 100644
--- a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
@@ -634,6 +634,9 @@
 Settings.cron_jobs['manage_evidence_worker'] ||= {}
 Settings.cron_jobs['manage_evidence_worker']['cron'] ||= '0 * * * *'
 Settings.cron_jobs['manage_evidence_worker']['job_class'] = 'Releases::ManageEvidenceWorker'
+Settings.cron_jobs['publish_release_worker'] ||= {}
+Settings.cron_jobs['publish_release_worker']['cron'] ||= '20,50 * * * *'
+Settings.cron_jobs['publish_release_worker']['job_class'] = 'Releases::PublishEventWorker'
 Settings.cron_jobs['user_status_cleanup_batch_worker'] ||= {}
 Settings.cron_jobs['user_status_cleanup_batch_worker']['cron'] ||= '* * * * *'
 Settings.cron_jobs['user_status_cleanup_batch_worker']['job_class'] = 'UserStatusCleanup::BatchWorker'
diff --git a/db/migrate/20231212154022_add_release_published_at_to_release.rb b/db/migrate/20231212154022_add_release_published_at_to_release.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8ecb51a8cf12b1b71b20398de38f23a23e2d2e28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20231212154022_add_release_published_at_to_release.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class AddReleasePublishedAtToRelease < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.2]
+  milestone '16.8'
+  enable_lock_retries!
+
+  def change
+    add_column :releases, :release_published_at, :datetime_with_timezone
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20231220094609_add_release_published_at_index_to_release.rb b/db/migrate/20231220094609_add_release_published_at_index_to_release.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bc5891ad1983ab5359d796fe8d778cf2ee2932cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20231220094609_add_release_published_at_index_to_release.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class AddReleasePublishedAtIndexToRelease < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.2]
+  milestone '16.8'
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  def up
+    add_concurrent_index :releases, :release_published_at, name: 'releases_published_at_index'
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_concurrent_index :releases, :release_published_at, name: 'releases_published_at_index'
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20231212154022 b/db/schema_migrations/20231212154022
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9f9967d03263456dba22bb1afef42d1468ad9d42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20231212154022
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+c005eb8901f1ebb85dedb044d627396f591bd760a0315dc3f45171def0f972e5
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20231220094609 b/db/schema_migrations/20231220094609
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..30ece81d4a013b110cb1309557608ddb2c51be08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20231220094609
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+aab891f39866b4933cadd8295ecaa1c9f8a256cda832b734dfb1911580187bf3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/structure.sql b/db/structure.sql
index 754c8139b3726944e631d7d2f09f72b803436d80..e3900b7b7ebf2231a298739fde00bb312da706ef 100644
--- a/db/structure.sql
+++ b/db/structure.sql
@@ -22754,7 +22754,8 @@ CREATE TABLE releases (
     author_id integer,
     name character varying,
     sha character varying,
-    released_at timestamp with time zone NOT NULL
+    released_at timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
+    release_published_at timestamp with time zone
 );
 
 CREATE SEQUENCE releases_id_seq
@@ -35395,6 +35396,8 @@ CREATE INDEX partial_index_user_id_app_id_created_at_token_not_revoked ON oauth_
 
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX pm_checkpoints_path_components ON pm_checkpoints USING btree (purl_type, data_type, version_format);
 
+CREATE INDEX releases_published_at_index ON releases USING btree (release_published_at);
+
 CREATE INDEX scan_finding_approval_mr_rule_index_id ON approval_merge_request_rules USING btree (id) WHERE (report_type = 4);
 
 CREATE INDEX scan_finding_approval_mr_rule_index_merge_request_id ON approval_merge_request_rules USING btree (merge_request_id) WHERE (report_type = 4);
diff --git a/spec/models/release_spec.rb b/spec/models/release_spec.rb
index bff9f73e44aaeefa9ed12d4259a324d4290f709a..4a4cb1ae46a4f7c572081fa503bb7f9a60d8e146 100644
--- a/spec/models/release_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/release_spec.rb
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@
 
   describe 'latest releases' do
     let_it_be(:yesterday) { Time.zone.now - 1.day }
+    let_it_be(:today) { Time.zone.now }
     let_it_be(:tomorrow) { Time.zone.now + 1.day }
 
     let_it_be(:project2) { create(:project) }
@@ -176,6 +177,14 @@
       create(:release, project: project2, released_at: tomorrow, created_at: yesterday)
     end
 
+    let_it_be(:project2_release3) do
+      create(:release, project: project2, released_at: today, created_at: yesterday)
+    end
+
+    let_it_be(:project2_release4) do
+      create(:release, project: project2, released_at: today, created_at: yesterday, release_published_at: today)
+    end
+
     let(:args) { {} }
 
     describe '.latest' do
@@ -240,6 +249,16 @@
         end
       end
     end
+
+    describe '.waiting_for_publish_event' do
+      let(:releases) { [project2_release3] }
+
+      subject(:waiting) { described_class.waiting_for_publish_event }
+
+      it "find today's releases not yet published" do
+        expect(waiting).to match_array(releases)
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   describe '#assets_count' do
diff --git a/spec/workers/releases/publish_event_worker_spec.rb b/spec/workers/releases/publish_event_worker_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..86dd09a756fc469bcf05227ab71450ab47312436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/workers/releases/publish_event_worker_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe Releases::PublishEventWorker, feature_category: :release_evidence do
+  let_it_be(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
+  let_it_be_with_reload(:release) { create(:release, project: project, released_at: Time.current) }
+
+  before do
+    allow(Gitlab::EventStore).to receive(:publish).and_return(true)
+  end
+
+  describe 'when the releases feature is not disabled' do
+    before do
+      project.update!(releases_access_level: 'enabled')
+      described_class.new.perform
+    end
+
+    it 'broadcasts the published event' do
+      expect(Gitlab::EventStore).to have_received(:publish).with(Projects::ReleasePublishedEvent)
+    end
+
+    it 'sets the release as published' do
+      expect(release.release_published_at).not_to be_nil
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe 'when the releases feature is disabled' do
+    before do
+      project.update!(releases_access_level: 'disabled')
+      described_class.new.perform
+    end
+
+    it 'does not broadcasts the published event' do
+      expect(Gitlab::EventStore).not_to have_received(:publish).with(Projects::ReleasePublishedEvent)
+    end
+
+    # Having a release created with the releases feature disabled is a bogus state anyway.
+    # Setting it as published prevents having such releases piling up forever in the
+    # `unpublished` scope.
+    it 'sets the release as published' do
+      expect(release.release_published_at).not_to be_nil
+    end
+  end
+end