diff --git a/.github/workflows/validation.yml b/.github/workflows/validation.yml
index 573c474..ff6fefc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validation.yml
@@ -54,10 +54,13 @@ jobs:
       
       - name: Validate Kubernetes manifests
         run: |
-          kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f k8s/base/namespace.yaml
-          kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f k8s/base/validators/statefulset.yaml
-          kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f k8s/base/sentries/statefulset.yaml
-          kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f k8s/base/rpc/statefulset.yaml
+          # --validate=false: kubectl 1.34's default server-side validation
+          # tries to hit a kube-apiserver at localhost:8080 which isn't
+          # available in CI. Client-side YAML parsing still runs.
+          kubectl apply --dry-run=client --validate=false -f k8s/base/namespace.yaml
+          kubectl apply --dry-run=client --validate=false -f k8s/base/validators/statefulset.yaml
+          kubectl apply --dry-run=client --validate=false -f k8s/base/sentries/statefulset.yaml
+          kubectl apply --dry-run=client --validate=false -f k8s/base/rpc/statefulset.yaml
       
       - name: Install kube-score
         run: |