Prior to joining the Ukrainian Navy she was a former KGB Border Guard patrol ship named Dnepr.

The Grisha-class anti-submarine ships were designed to search for and destroy enemy submarines found in coastal areas.

Dnepr saw service throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s, guarding the state border and the economic zone of the USSR and patrolling off the coast of the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea.

[6] In late 1995, it was decided to transfer the Grisha-class vessels Dnepr and Izmail to the Naval Forces of Ukraine.

Following her commissioning into the Ukrainian Navy, Vinnytsia participated in many joint training exercises with other nations.

She repeated that a year later in 2003, participating in the naval multinational exercises Breeze—2003, Farvater Miru—2003, Cooperative Partner—2003, Black Sea Partner—2003 and the BLACKSEAFOR Activation.

Half of the crew remained in Crimea, and on 19 April the corvette was towed to Odesa after Russia returned seized Ukrainian Navy ships.

Vice Admiral Ihor Voronchenko, the commander of Ukraine's Navy, commented that despite being over 40 years old the ship may be repaired and continue service as Ukraine's forces desperately need anti-submarine assets in order to counter Russia's growing submarine fleet in the Black Sea region.

[9] In February 2021, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence was going to turn the warship into a floating museum, but details of the plan were unknown at the time.