REUTERS — With Russia launching the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, local and international law firms in Ukraine said they have taken steps to protect their employees and client work amid the invasion. Representatives for Baker McKenzie, CMS and Dentons, three of the largest foreign law firms with lawyers in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, said they have closed their offices there, for now. At least two Ukraine-based firms — 140-lawyer Asters and Avellum, a full-service law firm with 90 employees — said they have also shuttered their offices and their employees are safe. After Russian attacks began Thursday, Avellum managing partner Mykola Stetsenko said the firm’s lawyers working remotely are able to respond to clients’ emails, “but there are not many.” “I hope it will end soon,” Stetsenko said in an email. “The Ukrainian army is strong and able to fight. We will prevail, but the world will change now.” In addition to widespread Russian shelling, Ukraine has reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas.