Dana Diadiushenko struggles for words.

When asked what has caused her the greatest difficulties since arriving in Germany, she does not answer that it was dealing with the authorities, looking for accommodation, the German language or working with the new team in the auditing company EY.

For all of this she received support and only raving praise.

But that is exactly what makes the eyes of the slim twenty-one-year-old grow wet at this moment.

"I have an interesting job here, my colleagues help me where they can, I have an apartment, I'm fine, but when I come home in the evening and hear the news and see what's happening in Ukraine, then I can can hardly stand it." She lives two lives, so to speak,

Patricia Andreae

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Diadiushenko fled Kyiv shortly after the outbreak of war, where she worked with around 700 colleagues in the EY branch there.

After an arduous path that finally led to a refugee facility in Germany, she only found out about the possibility of being able to work directly at a German branch of her employer.

So she came to Eschborn.

Despite her young age, she already has a bachelor's degree in "Economics and Entrepreneurship" from the University of Kyiv, and has been working for the consulting company for a year and a half, as she reports in fluent English.

Buddy program helps with settling in

Katherina Kiriei also left her home country shortly after the start of the war.

But she immediately used the EY program, which offers Ukrainian employees the opportunity to be placed at other locations of the global company.

Elfriede Eckl, EY's regional manager for Frankfurt and Eschborn, reports that many employees have moved from Kyiv to Warsaw, but the men who cannot leave the country are working from there as far as possible.

In any case, they kept their jobs and would continue to be paid.

Supporting the colleagues who stayed in the Ukraine with their work in Germany is an important motivation for the 31-year-old Kiriei.

"It helps me when I ask myself what right I have to be so well-

while my family suffers from hunger.” That's why she donates as much as she can and takes part in campaigns to pack and send aid packages.

As Eckl reports, EY has already launched several transports of medicines and other relief supplies.

The new colleagues from the Ukraine – there are now more than 60 across Germany – are supported by a so-called buddy program at the consulting company, in which they receive help from colleagues or special departments with all sorts of questions about moving, looking for an apartment, language courses and registrations.

Time and time again, Kiriei and Diadiushenko emphasize how impressed they are not only with the company's support, but also with their warmth and willingness to help.

Not considered “needy”.

Like her younger colleague, she reports on the wide range of help from her colleagues.

They not only provided her with clothing and even furniture, but also came with a group when she needed help painting her room.

She doesn't actually want to be seen as a "refugee in need of help", but rather "to do a good job".

Because she sees her work for the consulting company as a contribution to supporting Ukraine economically and being able to build on it again after the war.

The fact that the Ukrainians could be integrated into project teams so quickly is also due to the fact that the corona rules have been relaxed and people can meet more in the office again, says Clemens Weigel, who takes care of the newcomers.

Eckl adds that communication at EY is mainly in English anyway, which the two Ukrainians mastered very well.

Arrived in 2015 and felt at home

The story of Irina Rdko also proves how integration can work.

She moved west with her family from eastern Ukraine in 2011.

"I never thought that I would end up in Germany," she reports.

At first she thought of the USA or Australia, but that was too far away for her.

So she came to Frankfurt in 2015.

"I had already worked for German customers, but I underestimated the German language a bit," she says.

In the meantime, she not only speaks the language perfectly, but has also passed the German exam to become a chartered accountant.

"It was difficult without a German degree, but it's doable." For Rdko, this is also one of the reasons why she wants to stay in Germany.

Diadiushenko doesn't want to think about the future for the time being: "At the moment I have no plans or dreams." Katharina Kiriei is preparing to stay longer and support her family from here: "It will probably be a protracted war, and this here is now the front where I fight for my country.”