Built at the Zalyv Shipbuilding yard, the ship was intended to be used by the Soviet Border Troops as Kirov. However, on 4 July 1993, the newly named Hetman Sahaydachniy raised the flag of the Ukrainian Navy. She was given the identification number of U130. In 1994, Hetman Sahaydachniy set sail for France to take part in the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Allied invasion of Normandy. In 1995, Hetman Sahaydachniy visited Abu Dhabi during the "Idex-95" exhibitions. The frigate was scheduled to visit Norfolk, Virginia in the United States with Kostiantyn Olshansky. Olshansky visited but for unknown reasons the Sahaydachniy did not. The vessel has also visited ports in Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, Israel, Portugal, Russia and Turkey. Between November 2006 and November 2007, she underwent major repairs in Mykolaiv at a cost of 15 million hryvnia. In 2008, Hetman Sahaydachniy took part in "Operation Active Endeavour" in the Mediterranean Sea. In February 2013, it was announced that she would be taking part in NATO's "Operation Ocean Shield", an anti-piracy campaign off the Horn of Africa. Hetman Sahaydachniy joined the Naval Force of the European Union in early January 2014 for anti-piracy operations. As she refueled in Greece, while Russian forces seized control of Crimea, Russian Senator Igor Morozov claimed on 1 March 2014 that the ship's crew had defected to Russia and raised the Russian flag. Shortly afterwards, independent news organizations reported that the ship was still flying the Ukrainian flag in port in Crete. The commander of the ship confirmed that the crew had never defected to the Russians. She arrived in Odessa under the Ukrainian flag on 5 March. The Ukrainian naval command reported that on 14 March, the ship encountered a Russian naval group in Ukrainian territorial waters. As Hetman Sahaydachniy approached the group, they withdrew into international waters. In September, the frigate entered Odessa to undergo repairs. In May 2017 she suffered an engine failure shortly after undergoing repairs. In July 2018 she participated in the Sea Breeze 2018 multinational exercises. On 2 April 2018 she celebrated the 25th anniversary of her commissioning.
