KIEV, Ukraine — The foes of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych took swift, bold action Sunday to consolidate power and transform the government, sacking ministers, freeing jailed protesters and announcing detentions of former officials, even as ordinary Ukrainians confessed they weren’t really sure who was running the country or where it was headed.

By decree, the nation’s parliament gave interim presidential authority to the speaker, Oleksandr Turchynov, a leader of the opposition.

Turchynov quickly delivered some sobering news: The economy was in a shambles, and the government coffers empty. Ukraine’s pension fund, currency and banking system were facing “immense problems,” he said, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.

Sunday’s actions brought the latest dramatic changes to a country convulsed by protests since Yanukovych reversed course on a trade agreement with the European Union three months ago and turned to Russia for economic aid. Since then, 88 people have died in demonstrations and clashes with riot police and security forces, which culminated in the president’s removal in a parliamentary vote on Saturday .

Even as demonstrators in Kiev celebrated Sunday, there were signs of trouble in parts of Ukraine that lean more toward Russia than Europe. In the southern Crimean region, men gathered to volunteer for militias to oppose the decrees announced in the capital.

There has been no word from Yanukovych since a short prerecorded interview aired Saturday morning on Ukrainian television, in which he blasted his removal as “illegal” and refused to resign. Border police said they stopped his plane in Donetsk on Saturday as he was trying to leave the country.

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Yanukovych’s whereabouts remain unknown, even to members of his party.

Legislators said Sunday that they urgently needed to form an interim unity government, leading up to elections they have called for May 25. But in their rush, they got ahead of themselves.

The lawmakers put forth the name of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko as a possible candidate for the premiership. But she quickly said she was not interested in the job and hadn’t been consulted.

Even Yanukovych’s allies began to turn against their former boss on Sunday, blaming him for the crisis.

Oleksandr Yefremov, a leader of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, said he “strongly condemns the criminal orders that led to human victims, an empty state treasury, huge debts and the shame before the eyes of the Ukrainian people and the entire world.”

Vitali Klitschko, an opposition leader in parliament, said: “Millions of Ukrainians want to know where is the president. He’s disappeared. So we have a new one.”

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The White House found itself in the dark as well. “He’s gone,” national security adviser Susan Rice said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” “He took his stuff, his furniture with him. . . . Yesterday we knew where he was; today we’re not so sure.”

Rice said that the Ukrainian economy was “very, very fragile” and that the U.S. government would work with the International Monetary Fund on assistance. E.U. officials also have indicated that they are ready to offer financial aid to the new government.

Ukraine’s interim government faces huge problems, even beyond the teetering economy.

“There are no police on the streets right now,” Klitschko told reporters. “The police will be reorganized, and we will try to do this as fast as possible.”

Another member of parliament warned his colleagues that they needed to work quickly to bring Ukraine’s security forces back to work, saying that some of the nation’s vital infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, was unguarded.

Opposition leaders urged thousands of demonstrators still on Kiev’s Independence Square to remain where they are to guarantee that the government changes wouldn’t be reversed.

They called upon the “self-defense” militias organized to defend the barricades at the square to remain on the streets to provide security. Groups of men in mismatched military uniforms, wielding baseball bats and homemade shields, were directing traffic at intersections and standing guard in front of government offices.

Among the unknowns Sunday was how Russia would react to the swift change in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that Moscow regards as a vital strategic interest.


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