diff --git a/examples/uploader/_localrepo.py b/examples/uploader/_localrepo.py
index edae65821b..c4d746a34d 100644
--- a/examples/uploader/_localrepo.py
+++ b/examples/uploader/_localrepo.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 import os
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
 
-import requests
 from securesystemslib.signer import CryptoSigner, Signer
+from urllib3 import request
 
 from tuf.api.exceptions import RepositoryError
 from tuf.api.metadata import Metadata, MetaFile, TargetFile, Targets
@@ -92,8 +92,9 @@ def close(self, role_name: str, md: Metadata) -> None:
 
         # Upload using "api/role"
         uri = f"{self.base_url}/api/role/{role_name}"
-        r = requests.post(uri, data=md.to_bytes(JSONSerializer()), timeout=5)
-        r.raise_for_status()
+        r = request("POST", uri, body=md.to_bytes(JSONSerializer()), timeout=5)
+        if r.status != 200:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"HTTP error {r.status}")
 
     def add_target(self, role: str, targetpath: str) -> bool:
         """Add target to roles metadata and submit new metadata version"""
@@ -124,8 +125,8 @@ def add_delegation(self, role: str) -> bool:
 
         data = {signer.public_key.keyid: signer.public_key.to_dict()}
         url = f"{self.base_url}/api/delegation/{role}"
-        r = requests.post(url, data=json.dumps(data), timeout=5)
-        if r.status_code != 200:
+        r = request("POST", url, body=json.dumps(data), timeout=5)
+        if r.status != 200:
             print(f"delegation failed with {r}")
             return False
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4eac696d2c..519739e5a7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ classifiers = [
   "Topic :: Software Development",
 ]
 dependencies = [
-  "requests>=2.19.1",
   "securesystemslib~=1.0",
   "urllib3<3,>=1.21.1",
 ]
@@ -156,4 +155,4 @@ exclude_also = [
 ]
 [tool.coverage.run]
 branch = true
-omit = [ "tests/*", "tuf/ngclient/_internal/requests_fetcher.py" ]
+omit = [ "tests/*", "tuf/ngclient/requests_fetcher.py" ]
diff --git a/requirements/main.txt b/requirements/main.txt
index e93071ff00..611c6589d8 100644
--- a/requirements/main.txt
+++ b/requirements/main.txt
@@ -7,4 +7,4 @@
 # triggers CI/CD builds to automatically test against updated dependencies.
 #
 securesystemslib[crypto]
-requests
+urllib3
diff --git a/requirements/pinned.txt b/requirements/pinned.txt
index e97461353f..038c8af1b0 100644
--- a/requirements/pinned.txt
+++ b/requirements/pinned.txt
@@ -4,21 +4,13 @@
 #
 #    pip-compile --output-file=requirements/pinned.txt --strip-extras requirements/main.txt
 #
-certifi==2025.1.31
-    # via requests
 cffi==1.17.1
     # via cryptography
-charset-normalizer==3.4.1
-    # via requests
 cryptography==44.0.1
     # via securesystemslib
-idna==3.10
-    # via requests
 pycparser==2.22
     # via cffi
-requests==2.32.3
-    # via -r requirements/main.txt
 securesystemslib==1.2.0
     # via -r requirements/main.txt
 urllib3==2.3.0
-    # via requests
+    # via -r requirements/main.txt
diff --git a/tuf/__init__.py b/tuf/__init__.py
index b09503961c..4b25e51db8 100644
--- a/tuf/__init__.py
+++ b/tuf/__init__.py
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@
 
 """TUF."""
 
-# This value is used in the requests user agent.
+# This value is used in the ngclient user agent.
 __version__ = "5.1.0"
diff --git a/tuf/ngclient/__init__.py b/tuf/ngclient/__init__.py
index 1d2084acf5..afab48f5cd 100644
--- a/tuf/ngclient/__init__.py
+++ b/tuf/ngclient/__init__.py
@@ -4,19 +4,13 @@
 """TUF client public API."""
 
 from tuf.api.metadata import TargetFile
-
-# requests_fetcher is public but comes from _internal for now (because
-# sigstore-python 1.0 still uses the module from there). requests_fetcher
-# can be moved out of _internal once sigstore-python 1.0 is not relevant.
-from tuf.ngclient._internal.requests_fetcher import RequestsFetcher
-from tuf.ngclient._internal.urllib3_fetcher import Urllib3Fetcher
 from tuf.ngclient.config import UpdaterConfig
 from tuf.ngclient.fetcher import FetcherInterface
 from tuf.ngclient.updater import Updater
+from tuf.ngclient.urllib3_fetcher import Urllib3Fetcher
 
 __all__ = [  # noqa: PLE0604
     FetcherInterface.__name__,
-    RequestsFetcher.__name__,
     Urllib3Fetcher.__name__,
     TargetFile.__name__,
     Updater.__name__,
diff --git a/tuf/ngclient/_internal/requests_fetcher.py b/tuf/ngclient/requests_fetcher.py
similarity index 94%
rename from tuf/ngclient/_internal/requests_fetcher.py
rename to tuf/ngclient/requests_fetcher.py
index 2f89e47ab4..6edc699d9d 100644
--- a/tuf/ngclient/_internal/requests_fetcher.py
+++ b/tuf/ngclient/requests_fetcher.py
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@
 
 """Provides an implementation of ``FetcherInterface`` using the Requests HTTP
 library.
-"""
 
-# requests_fetcher is public but comes from _internal for now (because
-# sigstore-python 1.0 still uses the module from there). requests_fetcher
-# can be moved out of _internal once sigstore-python 1.0 is not relevant.
+Note that this module is deprecated, and the default fetcher is
+Urllib3Fetcher:
+* RequestsFetcher is still available to make it easy to fall back to
+  previous implementation if issues are found with the Urllib3Fetcher
+* If RequestsFetcher is used, note that `requests` must be explicitly
+  depended on: python-tuf does not do that.
+"""
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
diff --git a/tuf/ngclient/updater.py b/tuf/ngclient/updater.py
index 022d601f95..8c88a96ead 100644
--- a/tuf/ngclient/updater.py
+++ b/tuf/ngclient/updater.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
 
 from tuf.api import exceptions
 from tuf.api.metadata import Root, Snapshot, TargetFile, Targets, Timestamp
-from tuf.ngclient._internal import trusted_metadata_set, urllib3_fetcher
+from tuf.ngclient import urllib3_fetcher
+from tuf.ngclient._internal import trusted_metadata_set
 from tuf.ngclient.config import EnvelopeType, UpdaterConfig
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
diff --git a/tuf/ngclient/_internal/urllib3_fetcher.py b/tuf/ngclient/urllib3_fetcher.py
similarity index 100%
rename from tuf/ngclient/_internal/urllib3_fetcher.py
rename to tuf/ngclient/urllib3_fetcher.py
diff --git a/verify_release b/verify_release
index 549b7bab84..f6ae8330f0 100755
--- a/verify_release
+++ b/verify_release
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ on GitHub and PyPI match the built release artifacts.
 """
 
 import argparse
-import json
 import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -20,10 +19,10 @@ from typing import Optional
 
 try:
     import build as _  # type: ignore[import-not-found] # noqa: F401
-    import requests
+    from urllib3 import request
 except ImportError:
-    print("Error: verify_release requires modules 'requests' and 'build':")
-    print("    pip install requests build")
+    print("Error: verify_release requires modules 'urllib3' and 'build':")
+    print("    pip install urllib3 build")
     sys.exit(1)
 
 # Project variables
@@ -75,9 +74,7 @@ def get_git_version() -> str:
 def get_github_version() -> str:
     """Return version string of latest GitHub release"""
     release_json = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{GITHUB_ORG}/{GITHUB_PROJECT}/releases/latest"
-    releases = json.loads(
-        requests.get(release_json, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT).content
-    )
+    releases = request("GET", release_json, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT).json()
     return releases["tag_name"][1:]
 
 
@@ -106,9 +103,11 @@ def verify_github_release(version: str, compare_dir: str) -> bool:
     with TemporaryDirectory() as github_dir:
         for filename in [tar, wheel]:
             url = f"{base_url}/v{version}/{filename}"
-            response = requests.get(url, stream=True, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT)
+            response = request(
+                "GET", url, preload_content=False, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT
+            )
             with open(os.path.join(github_dir, filename), "wb") as f:
-                for data in response.iter_content():
+                for data in response.stream():
                     f.write(data)
 
         return cmp(