diff --git a/.github/workflows/cicd.yml b/.github/workflows/cicd.yml
index ee476daf7..4c9565b29 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cicd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cicd.yml
@@ -142,14 +142,14 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Release | Python Semantic Release
         id: release
-        uses: python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release@350c48fcb3ffcdfd2e0a235206bc2ecea6b69df0  # v10.5.3
+        uses: python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release@37a30a7987cfebb6d49240bf1c4e9cd9817d0673  # v10.6.0
         with:
           github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           verbosity: 1
           build: false
 
       - name: Release | Add distribution artifacts to GitHub Release Assets
-        uses: python-semantic-release/publish-action@310a9983a0ae878b29f3aac778d7c77c1db27378  # v10.5.3
+        uses: python-semantic-release/publish-action@4f3c5d7f5caddf6535050c4bcb55f033f000a7dd  # v10.6.0
         if: steps.release.outputs.released == 'true'
         with:
           github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate.yml b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
index 2623eccdf..198fd2c3a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build | Build next version artifacts
         id: version
-        uses: python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release@350c48fcb3ffcdfd2e0a235206bc2ecea6b69df0  # v10.5.3
+        uses: python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release@37a30a7987cfebb6d49240bf1c4e9cd9817d0673  # v10.6.0
         with:
           github_token: ""
           verbosity: 1
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 5decef8f5..651e00b44 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -778,6 +778,39 @@ v10.0.0 (2025-05-25)
 .. _PR#1245: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/pull/1245
 
 
+.. _changelog-v9.21.2:
+
+v9.21.2 (2026-07-04)
+====================
+
+🪲 Bug Fixes
+------------
+
+* **hvcs**: Mask credentials in git URL debug logs, closes `#1426`_ (`PR#1450`_, `da0cb2b`_)
+
+📖 Documentation
+----------------
+
+* **github-actions**: Fix recommended upstream detection script's upstream name parsing (`911f62a`_)
+
+⚙️ Build System
+----------------
+
+* Mark for Python 3.14 compatibility (`86c0439`_)
+
+* **deps**: Bump ``tomlkit`` dependency from ``~=0.11.0`` to ``~=0.13.0`` (`5395d06`_)
+
+* **deps**: Prevent update to ``click@8.2.0`` (`128f06a`_)
+
+.. _#1426: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/issues/1426
+.. _128f06a: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/commit/128f06a512ff782b773df2989d3445f894672ace
+.. _5395d06: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/commit/5395d065fc890813b1ef0df1c024a714668cb102
+.. _86c0439: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/commit/86c04399fc66fa9584c6c875698a43e91104186b
+.. _911f62a: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/commit/911f62aa6ab0a169a4126bea44fbc8dfb4f967b6
+.. _da0cb2b: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/commit/da0cb2bb40ffdd898117b72e3309e2281fdf682c
+.. _PR#1450: https://github.com/python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release/pull/1450
+
+
 .. _changelog-v9.21.1:
 
 v9.21.1 (2025-05-05)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8b3034531..7dd7607aa 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Ref: https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/specifications/declaring-project-metadata/
 # and https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/userguide/pyproject_config.html
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools >= 75.3.0, < 81.0.0", "wheel ~= 0.42"]
+requires = ["setuptools >= 75.3.0, < 83.0.0", "wheel ~= 0.42"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "gitpython ~= 3.0",
   "requests ~= 2.25",
   "jinja2 ~= 3.1",
-  "python-gitlab >= 4.0.0, < 7.0.0",
+  "python-gitlab >= 4.0.0, < 9.0.0",
   "tomlkit ~= 0.13.0",
   "dotty-dict ~= 1.3",
   "importlib-resources ~= 6.0",
diff --git a/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py b/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
index 563f6a3f4..202b2c373 100644
--- a/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
+++ b/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ def autofit_text_width(text: str, maxwidth: int = 100, indent_size: int = 0) ->
             )
         )
 
+        # Guard against empty paragraphs (e.g. from whitespace-only lines in commit bodies),
+        # which would cause words[0] to raise an IndexError.
+        if not words:
+            continue
+
         # Initialize the line for each paragraph
         line = words[0]
         next_line = ""