Ukraine's government held onto power after an attempt by the opposition to topple it by parliamentary means as a no-confidence vote failed by a substantial margin on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Protesters however, vowed to soldier on with their demonstrations in Kiev, even as President Viktor Yanukovich was on his way to China.
"It is a very bad time to go abroad. The president's absence may make talks with the opposition much more difficult," said Ukrainian political analyst Gleb Vyshlinsky, as reported by Voice of America.
Mass protests began in earnest last weekend after the government's decision to not sign a free trade deal with the European Union. This move suggested the former Soviet country was seeking closer ties with Russia, The Daily Telegraph reported. The protests broadened out with hopes that Yanukovich will be ousted, as demonstrators believe the government has been increasingly authoritarian.
The opposition called for the parliamentary vote "in protest of both President Yanukovyc's shelving of a long-anticipated agreement to deepen political and economic ties with the European Union, and the violent tactics used by police to disperse demonstrators protesting that decision," The AP also reported.
"I am convinced that even a bad peace is better than any war," Yanukovich said in an interview with local television stations over the weekend.
"It is very important that these [protest] actions would always be peaceful," he added.
After the vote, "about 5,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential administration building then moved to [Kyiv's] central Independence Square, where the crowd grew to more than 10,000, according to police estimates," The AP reported.
"People here in Ukraine are tired of the current government and seek a better future for them and their children, as they see Yanukovich and his minions are getting over the country buying every plant and enterprise and mass media. He wants to completely rule Ukraine like a Tsar," photographer Maksim Belousov exclusively told Lawyer Herald on Tuesday.
Jailed opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians to "not to leave the authorities' actions unanswered," in a message read by her daughter last Saturday. Tymoshenko, who served as prime minister in 2005, also later held power between December 2007 and March 2010, was charged in May 2011 for abuse of office.
Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in jail, a case that had been criticized by the West as a form of political revenge from her rivals.
"As she's the only one being in jail for now - she's the true fear of our President and his surroundings. That makes her better choice for me than the others," Belousov added.
The "others" may include world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who has been present and vocal at the the demonstrations. He told western media that Yanukovich's government must be held accountable for police brutality.
"Ukrainians don't want to live in [a] police country," Klitschko told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. Klitschko is seen as a viable candidate in the next elections.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, criticized the demonstrations..
"The events in Ukraine seem more like a pogrom than a revolution. It has little to do with Ukraine's relations with the European Union," Putin said on Tuesday.
For Belousov, a young photographer living in Kiev, he just wants a better future for himself and for subsequent generations.
"I guess I can state that we are [protesting] exactly the same as you are there either in New York or L.A," he said.
"We have the same problems to solve and the same dreams to come true. The difference is that we are stuck between two worlds... I hope that the majority of our people are beginning to understand, to have a true identification of ourselves... I hope that we'll have a better defined middle class."
"All that's happening now is the first step for it," Belousov added.
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