Ukraine appoints pro-West leader as president Yanukovych is impeached

Watch: Ukraine ushers in new era as president flees

Ukraine's parliament yesterday appointed a pro-West interim leader after impeaching a defiant President Viktor Yanukovych, whose whereabouts remained a mystery.

In Kiev, the city's police presence vanished and protesters took control of everything from traffic management to protection of government buildings.

Lawmakers, who ordered the release of former prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko on Saturday, voted to name Tymoshenko ally Oleksandr Turchynov, himself appointed as parliament speaker on Saturday, as interim president with the task of forming a government by tomorrow.

Parliament also dismissed the foreign minister, Leonid Kozhara, who had defended the swerve of his boss away from the European Union. The education minister, Dmitry Tabachnik, an unpopular figure accused by many of bringing a pro-Russia interpretation of Ukrainian history to school primers, quickly followed.