French Stealth Frigate La Fayette Arrives in Ukraine’s Odessa

The French Navy's La Fayette stealth frigate arrived on Friday in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, currently playing host to a NATO maritime group, local authorities said.

KIEV (Sputnik) — Odessa’s official website posted photos of the moored vessel with a single helicopter on its deck. It said this was the frigate’s second port call in Odessa on the Black Sea. It last docked there two years ago.

The warship was reportedly greeted by Ukraine’s Navy commander, Vice Admiral Ihor Voronchenko. French Ambassador to Ukraine, Isabelle Dumont, described the visit as a show of France’s political will in supporting Kiev, in her speech at Odessa City Hall.

The La Fayette-class frigate is capable of carrying air defense missiles and accommodating Panther medium-weight helicopters.

A Russian military source told Sputnik earlier in March that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was tracking the frigate's movement.