diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ed43e5884..6f58f82e8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Common variables
 REPO ?= $(shell go list -m)
-VERSION ?= "$(shell git describe --tags 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse --short HEAD | sed 's/^v//')"
+VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags 2>/dev/null || cat VERSION 2>/dev/null || echo "develop")
 BINDIR = bin
 
 # Binaries to build
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b60281ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+v0.17.0
diff --git a/cmd/s3-gw/app.go b/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
index 3e6ff669a..bea589879 100644
--- a/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
+++ b/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-s3-gw/api/cache"
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-s3-gw/api/handler"
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-s3-gw/api/layer"
+	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-s3-gw/internal/version"
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-s3-gw/internal/wallet"
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-sdk-go/policy"
 	"github.com/nspcc-dev/neofs-sdk-go/pool"
@@ -155,7 +156,7 @@ func newApp(ctx context.Context, l *zap.Logger, v *viper.Viper) *App {
 
 // Wait waits for application to finish.
 func (a *App) Wait() {
-	a.log.Info("application started")
+	a.log.Info("application started", zap.String("version", version.Version))
 
 	<-a.webDone // wait for web-server to be stopped