Parliament in Ukraine has named its speaker as interim president, the BBC reports.
Oleksandr Turchynov takes charge following the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday. Mr. Turchynov told MPs they had until Tuesday to form a new unity government.
Parliament also voted to seize Mr. Yanukovych’s luxury estate near Kiev, which protesters entered on Saturday.
The whereabouts of Mr. Yanukovych, who described parliament’s decision to vote him out as a coup, remain unclear.
Thousands of opposition supporters remain in Independence Square, where the atmosphere is described as calm.
Yulia Tymoshenko told the crowd that “heroes never die.”
Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko: said “Protesters should stay in square.”
Late on Saturday, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, freed from detention in the eastern city of Kharkiv after a vote in parliament, urged opposition supporters in Independence Square to continue protesting.
Her release was one of the conditions of the European Union-Ukraine trade pact that President Yanukovych rejected last year – triggering the protests that led to the current crisis.
The health ministry says 88 people, mostly protesters, are now known to have been killed since February 18.
Mr. Turchynov, a close associate of Ms Tymoshenko, described forming a unity government as a “priority task.”
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People power in action. When will this happen in Nigeria?
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