diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 259b129416d9ff96d64776f88caf004abb8cf773..97802197b60bd376b4a272e249c68c8a8c688548 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ backports:
 
 .PHONY: release
 release:
+	@[ -n "$(VERSION)" ] || (echo "Please provide a VERSION argument for this release" && false)
 	echo "Starting release process for $(VERSION) ..."
 	@echo "$(VERSION)" | ./.gitlab/scripts/check-semantic-version.sh
 	@[ "main" = "$(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" ] || (echo "Please checkout the main branch first: git checkout main" && false)