diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index bf7aadea..9854b342 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -227,13 +227,13 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           task operator:ci
 
-      # TODO(fcanovai): this has been disabled in #85 because the image build there is now Debian based and
-      # the Red Hat preflight certification fails. It should be re-enabled once we have an image built on Red Hat UBI.
-      #- name: Run Red Hat preflight certification
-      #  run: |
-      #    # Certify the operator image just built and pushed by operator:ci
-      #    IMAGE=$(jq -r '.default."image.name" | split(",")[0]' operator/metadata.json)
-      #    task olm:preflight-container IMAGE="${IMAGE}"
+      - name: Run Red Hat preflight certification
+        run: |
+          # Certify the UBI variant of the operator image just built and pushed
+          # by operator:ci. Preflight only accepts a Red Hat UBI base, so the
+          # distroless variant is not a candidate.
+          IMAGE=$(jq -r '.ubi."image.name" | split(",")[0]' operator/metadata.json)
+          task olm:preflight-container IMAGE="${IMAGE}"
 
   integration-tests:
     name: Integration Tests
diff --git a/Taskfile.yml b/Taskfile.yml
index 6deaffda..2b2db130 100644
--- a/Taskfile.yml
+++ b/Taskfile.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ vars:
   # the two must use the same version.
   # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/opdev/preflight versioning=docker
   PREFLIGHT_VERSION: 1.20.0@sha256:b8fa820097c088957a00f83b729595d26a9e0a97da568188bdc3361f9346aa26
+  # Tag suffix of the UBI variant of the operator image, as produced by the
+  # "ubi" target of operator/docker-bake.hcl. The OLM bundle ships the UBI
+  # image, since that is the variant submitted to Red Hat certification.
+  UBI_TAG_SUFFIX: '-ubi9'
   ALLOWED_ENVS: [testing, production]
 
 tasks:
@@ -740,6 +744,7 @@ tasks:
       insecure: '{{ if .GITHUB_ACTIONS }}false{{ else }}true{{ end }}'
       suffix: '{{ if ( ne .ENVIRONMENT "production" ) }}-testing{{end}}'
       tag: '{{ .TAG | default .IMAGE_TAG }}'
+      ubi_suffix: '{{ .UBI_TAG_SUFFIX }}'
       # renovate: datasource=git-refs depName=kustomize lookupName=https://github.com/sagikazarmark/daggerverse currentValue=main
       DAGGER_KUSTOMIZE_SHA: ff27cd50f6b4eed2e3753c520632cd6099e1ce52
     cmds:
@@ -761,7 +766,7 @@ tasks:
         GITHUB_REF= dagger -s call -m github.com/sagikazarmark/daggerverse/kustomize@${DAGGER_KUSTOMIZE_SHA}
         edit --source .
         --dir operator/config/manifests
-        set image --image controller=${registry}/klio-operator${suffix}:${tag}
+        set image --image controller=${registry}/klio-operator${suffix}:${tag}${ubi_suffix}
         directory directory --path operator/config/manifests export --path operator/config/manifest-build
       - >
         GITHUB_REF= dagger -s call -m github.com/sagikazarmark/daggerverse/kustomize@${DAGGER_KUSTOMIZE_SHA}
diff --git a/documentation/.wordlist.txt b/documentation/.wordlist.txt
index 8d9adc9f..838d92a0 100644
--- a/documentation/.wordlist.txt
+++ b/documentation/.wordlist.txt
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ deduplicated
 deduplication
 deployable
 dev
+distroless
 docusaurus
 durations
 env
diff --git a/documentation/web/docs/developer/openshift_testing.md b/documentation/web/docs/developer/openshift_testing.md
index 99428031..0b85ef27 100644
--- a/documentation/web/docs/developer/openshift_testing.md
+++ b/documentation/web/docs/developer/openshift_testing.md
@@ -235,7 +235,9 @@ certification policies. Two checks cover the two artifacts:
 
 - **`check container`** — static policy checks on the operator image
   (labels, layers, license, base image). It needs no cluster and runs
-  in the Dagger engine via `task olm:preflight-container`.
+  in the Dagger engine on every PR via `task olm:preflight-container`.
+  It is run against the UBI variant of the operator image, since the
+  base-image policy only accepts a Red Hat UBI base.
 - **`check operator`** — installs the bundle through OLM into a live
   OpenShift cluster and verifies it is deployable. Because it needs a
   real OpenShift cluster (OLM and Security Context Constraints), it runs
@@ -247,14 +249,12 @@ certification policies. Two checks cover the two artifacts:
 
 :::note
 
-Both checks are currently **disabled in CI**. The operator and operand
-images are built on Debian instead of Red Hat UBI, which the
-`check container` base-image policy rejects, and `check operator` is
-parked alongside it. The steps are commented out in
-`.github/workflows/ci.yml` and `.github/workflows/openshift-e2e.yml`,
-ready to be restored once a UBI-based image variant is built again — see
-[issue #85](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/klio/issues/85). Both
-tasks still work when run manually, as described below.
+The operator image is built in two variants: a distroless Debian one,
+which is the default and carries the plain tag, and a Red Hat UBI one,
+tagged with a `-ubi9` suffix. Certification concerns the UBI variant
+only: `check container` runs against it, and the OLM bundle references
+it, so `check operator` exercises it too. The operand (`klio`) image is
+Debian based and is not part of the operator certification.
 
 :::
 
diff --git a/operator/config/manifests/bases/klio-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml b/operator/config/manifests/bases/klio-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
index 6d925218..cec60823 100644
--- a/operator/config/manifests/bases/klio-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
+++ b/operator/config/manifests/bases/klio-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ metadata:
     alm-examples: '[]'
     capabilities: Basic Install
     categories: Database
-    containerImage: ghcr.io/cloudnative-pg/klio-operator:latest
+    containerImage: ghcr.io/cloudnative-pg/klio-operator:latest-ubi9
     createdAt:
     description: Enterprise-grade backup and recovery manager for PostgreSQL
       clusters managed by CloudNativePG on Kubernetes.
diff --git a/operator/docker-bake.hcl b/operator/docker-bake.hcl
index b059d941..bd8b21aa 100644
--- a/operator/docker-bake.hcl
+++ b/operator/docker-bake.hcl
@@ -34,6 +34,26 @@ variable "base_image" {
   default = "gcr.io/distroless/static-debian13:nonroot@sha256:f7f8f729987ad0fdf6b05eeeae94b26e6a0f613bdf46feea7fc40f7bd72953e6"
 }
 
+variable "ubi_base_image" {
+  // renovate image: datasource=docker depName=registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi-micro versioning=docker
+  default = "registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi-micro:9.8-1786321990@sha256:7e7f79ab747bf2b452e3043dd89f388e92be4c7fdcc8b815b58adf6c99c39c95"
+}
+
+// The image variants we build. Each one is a separate target of the "default"
+// group, built from the same Dockerfile with a different base image. The
+// distroless variant is the primary one and keeps the plain tag; the UBI
+// variant is the one submitted to Red Hat certification.
+distros = {
+  distroless = {
+    baseImage = base_image
+    tagSuffix = ""
+  }
+  ubi = {
+    baseImage = ubi_base_image
+    tagSuffix = "-ubi9"
+  }
+}
+
 function "getRegistry" {
   params = []
   result = lower(registry)
@@ -49,6 +69,11 @@ variable "version" {
 }
 
 target "default" {
+  matrix = {
+    distro = ["distroless", "ubi"]
+  }
+  name = distro
+
   dockerfile = "Dockerfile"
   context = "."
   platforms = [
@@ -57,12 +82,12 @@ target "default" {
   ]
 
   tags = [
-    latest("${getImageName()}", "${latest}"),
-    "${getImageName()}:${version}",
+    latest("${getImageName()}", "${latest}", "${distros[distro].tagSuffix}"),
+    "${getImageName()}:${version}${distros[distro].tagSuffix}",
   ]
 
   args = {
-    "BASE_IMAGE" = "${base_image}",
+    "BASE_IMAGE" = "${distros[distro].baseImage}",
   }
 
   output = [
@@ -89,8 +114,8 @@ target "default" {
     "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.documentation=${documentation}",
     "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.authors=${authors}",
     "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.licenses=${license}",
-    "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.base.name=${baseName(base_image)}",
-    "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.base.digest=${digest(base_image)}",
+    "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.base.name=${baseName(distros[distro].baseImage)}",
+    "index,manifest:org.opencontainers.image.base.digest=${digest(distros[distro].baseImage)}",
   ]
   labels = {
     "org.opencontainers.image.created"       = "${now}",
@@ -104,8 +129,8 @@ target "default" {
     "org.opencontainers.image.documentation" = "${documentation}",
     "org.opencontainers.image.authors"       = "${authors}",
     "org.opencontainers.image.licenses"      = "${license}",
-    "org.opencontainers.image.base.name"     = "${baseName(base_image)}",
-    "org.opencontainers.image.base.digest"   = "${digest(base_image)}",
+    "org.opencontainers.image.base.name"     = "${baseName(distros[distro].baseImage)}",
+    "org.opencontainers.image.base.digest"   = "${digest(distros[distro].baseImage)}",
     "name"                                   = "${title}",
     "maintainer"                             = "${authors}",
     "vendor"                                 = "${authors}",
@@ -123,13 +148,15 @@ function digest {
 }
 
 // We get the image reference without the sha256, so that the base.name label
-// is always derived from base_image and cannot drift away from it.
+// is always derived from the variant's base image and cannot drift away from it.
 function baseName {
   params = [ imageNameWithSha ]
   result = index(split("@", imageNameWithSha), 0)
 }
 
+// The moving tag of each variant: ":latest" for the primary one and
+// ":latest<suffix>" for the others, so the variants never collide on it.
 function latest {
-  params = [ image, latest ]
-  result = (latest == "true") ? "${image}:latest" : ""
+  params = [ image, latest, tagSuffix ]
+  result = (latest == "true") ? "${image}:latest${tagSuffix}" : ""
 }