The Ukraine parliament has voted to impeach president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the country's capital after a peace negotiation with opposition leaders failed to satisfy the protestor's demands. Legislators voted in his replacement, Oleksandr Turchynov, a supporter of the anti-government movement.

Turchynov is an ally to former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, whom parliament just voted to release from prison. Tymoshenko, a political rival of the former Ukrainian president, was convicted on charges of office abuse in 2011. The trial was thought by many to be rigged.

"Our homeland will from today on be able to see the sun and the sky as a dictatorship has ended," Tymoshenko told reporters shortly after her release. "Each drop of blood was not spilled in vain."

Ukraine has been torn apart in recent days by violent clashes between protesters and government forces. One demonstration in Kiev's central square took the lives of over 70 protesters, when snipers fired into the crowd.

Yanukovych attempted to strike a deal with opposition leaders on Friday, calling for earlier presidential elections and a return to a 2004 constitution that would rein in many of the president's powers. But the pain of lives lost made the compromise hard for many protesters to stomach and they demanded that the president resign from his post at once. Yanukovych abandoned the city on Saturday, before protesters took control over his office and parliament.

Reports say that Yanukovych still has no intention of giving up his presidency, despite the fact that a parliament including many of his former officials already voted in favor of his impeachment. He called the current movement a "coup d'état" and made comparisons to Nazi Germany during a televised interview on Saturday.

Russia, who were supporters of Yanukovych and his administration, has decided to stop any economic aid to Ukraine, and has even threatened to send Russian tanks to the country. Others are urging Russia to refrain from intervening in the crisis.