hello Ukrainian lawmakers have been meeting in Kiev to try and fill a major
power vacuum it's believed President Viktor Yanukovych
has left kiev the parliament has been meeting and made
several important political appointments including a new parliamentary speaker
interior minister in charge based the nation's police as well as a prosecutor
general
and they've also voted to speed up the release of jailed opposition leader
Yulia Tymoshenko
a protesters have continued their calls for your comments to resign immediately
and for elections to take place in May the presidential residence outside kiev
is empty and
unguarded and hundreds of people are gathering there
in a moment we'll be crossing life to Andrew Symonds
who's just outside our presidential a statement first
butts across through barnaby Philip Sousa overlooking Independence Square
for us
in central Kiev barnaby to just bring us up to speed with the latest developments
because of the fast moving story
is a fast moving story the atmosphere in the square behind me
and incidentally if you're hearing explosions don't be alarms
they are fireworks going off as about say that the atmosphere in the square
behind me has been
a strange mix all solemnity
mourning the dead funeral processions have been
carried have been carrying on throughout the morning in the square
coffins carried aloft about the crowd many faces streaming with tears
and then in the last 20 minutes a great by Rasha really
a firework explosions which have echoed shoot the center
of the city and which seemed to chime with the general feeling
a that authority has slipped away from president Yanukovych
he is believed to be most likely in the eastern city
of Kharkiv and as he was saying in your introduction
what authority that is I in Kiev is now very much for the country's
parliament which all morning has passed a series
of resolutions and votes and the only way I can characterize them
in that a tallit E is that they cement what is affectively
an ongoing revolution barnaby and the lawmakers speaking of them in what
they've passed I mean they've now voted to speed up the release of the
Opposition Leader
Yulia Tymoshenko when we know on bad and her whereabouts
will
she's in a hospital prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv
incidentally coincidentally probably the same city
way it is reported that president Yanukovych
has left visited fled I
to choose your objective I'm afraid it's very difficult to say at this point in
time
yes the parliament did vote for high
release we don't have any confirmation that that release
has happened I it would not be surprising
if it were to happen soon given the way all the other events
have unfolded this morning and we do know that had daughter
has traveled east a daughter who has been of course at the surfers
campaigner for her mother not since her detention in 2011
for you okay barnaby thank you for giving us that update
from Independence Square in the capital Kiev what we'll do now is 0 a crossover
to Andrew Symonds whose I believe just outside the presidential palace and
barnaby
Andrew telling us that the president is reportedly on the way to Kharkiv so he's
left the capital
what's the scene at the presidential palace
what we're witnessing here to rate is extraordinary
thousands of people have been streaming inside the presidential compound
that's why I'm right now this behind me
at the people keep sharing is in fact
a guest house a very large ice water bath worth millions of dollars
may Adam word and all
all riled its there are very very expensive
a ornaments furnishings the people right now
or moving forward not in any way
pain a ball away they're not
looting cannot do anything about that is more like some sort of
sunday gathering walking around a
a stately home this is a very large
site 210 acres if I can show you now
people coming through like horace all extremely happy
convinced that the president is standing down even others though
official word on our and here you have an ornamental lake
are behind the the green you see the green the
is the compound perimeter with the razor wire above it
now out fry there's a massive traffic jam as thousands of people come from the
couple out here
to view this place the had forbidden access for so many years does not
a policeman infarct there's no security that relates to the state
the people from the Independence Square the protesters have come here that
growth
they've taken control they will not allow anyone inside the buildings
their warning that there could be booby traps how much credence the router that
we're not sure
but by making sure that no one tampers with anything
it's just simply are a very extraordinary celebration
with people walking round viewing this
lavish as state weatherman who came from a soviet-era background
a very all you in which he had to jail terms
they say most people here he live like a saw
he live like a king he spent so much public money
Andrew I'm just wondering know whether people at all are worried about the
security or the lack of it or the questioning who's in charge of the
country right now
well this absolutely no doubt on
people's minds here that they feel that sir they have won over
they feel that the president if requested time before
they hear that the president is no longer a head of state
however we know there's nothing to confirm that right now
I'm people are genuinely confident
that they have possession of this now when we were outside waiting to come in
small group came initially and then the protest the group who were still wearing
their
that's in helmet still were having their baseball bats having come
from the square in care a started making announcements that people would Morgan
will be allowed in
and then they huddled together and decided they open the gate for the gates
opened
I'm thousands and thousands of people started screaming in
but it's so orderly appalled by what you saw earlier or which was this
grouping by and brought to this up guesthouse
it's been incredibly orderly other say people taking photographs
posing talking to each other milling together
a very happy atmosphere almost a family day out atmosphere
quite surreal really very okay Andrew for the time being will leave it there
but thank you very much and resume and reporting from just outside the
presidential compound and there's
Barnaby Phillips bringing up an updater from Ikea
have in the ukraine well press