diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/4036-onevm-add-release-action.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/4036-onevm-add-release-action.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc61278b4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/4036-onevm-add-release-action.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - opennebula - add the release action for VMs in the ``HOLD`` state (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/4036).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/cloud/opennebula/one_vm.py b/plugins/modules/cloud/opennebula/one_vm.py
index fa3d4abaab..86061f73cb 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/cloud/opennebula/one_vm.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/cloud/opennebula/one_vm.py
@@ -1260,6 +1260,11 @@ def resume_vm(module, client, vm):
     vm = client.vm.info(vm.ID)
     changed = False
 
+    state = vm.STATE
+    if state in [VM_STATES.index('HOLD')]:
+        changed = release_vm(module, client, vm)
+        return changed
+
     lcm_state = vm.LCM_STATE
     if lcm_state == LCM_STATES.index('SHUTDOWN_POWEROFF'):
         module.fail_json(msg="Cannot perform action 'resume' because this action is not available " +
@@ -1282,6 +1287,23 @@ def resume_vms(module, client, vms):
     return changed
 
 
+def release_vm(module, client, vm):
+    vm = client.vm.info(vm.ID)
+    changed = False
+
+    state = vm.STATE
+    if state != VM_STATES.index('HOLD'):
+        module.fail_json(msg="Cannot perform action 'release' because this action is not available " +
+                         "because VM is not in state 'HOLD'.")
+    else:
+        changed = True
+
+    if changed and not module.check_mode:
+        client.vm.action('release', vm.ID)
+
+    return changed
+
+
 def check_name_attribute(module, attributes):
     if attributes.get("NAME"):
         import re