Outside the election commission, throngs of Yanukovych supporters celebrated by drinking vodka and shouting their candidate's name. Inside, pro-Yushchenko lawmakers chanted "Shame! Shame!" and Yanukovych's supporters applauded.
Fistfights broke out between some lawmakers after the results were announced.
A Ukrainian woman places carnations into the shields of anti-riot policemen standing outside the presidential office in Kiev on Wednesday.
(Vasily Fedosenko - Reuters)
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After the announcement, large numbers of Yanukovych supporters began heading back to buses that had brought them. Some were seen passing opposition supporters, but the two groups stayed out of one another's way, on opposite sides of the streets.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who backed the prime minister in the race, said "the authorities control the situation in Ukraine and will not allow a force scenario in spite of any pressure, internal or external," according to the Interfax news agency.
Kuchma accused Yushchenko supporters of trying to "carry out ... a plan of a coup d'etat." He called "on all political forces to negotiate immediately," and on the international community to "refrain from interference in Ukraine's affairs."
But pro-Yushchenko lawmaker Petro Poroshenko accused the election commission of carrying out a coup d'etat. "Now the streets will speak. Now the people will speak," he said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, meanwhile, vowed that the military "will always serve only the people's interests."
Kiev's city council and the administrations of four other sizable cities -- Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk -- have refused to recognize a Yanukovych victory. In sign of defiance to the government, 14 journalists from state television's main news program announced a strike Wednesday.
The election commission announcement came after a flurry of statements on the possibility of negotiations to find a compromise, which Kuchma had proposed earlier. Mykola Tomenko, a lawmaker and Yushchenko ally, said the opposition would discuss only one thing.
"We are ready to negotiate only about the peaceful handing over of power to Yushchenko by Kuchma," Tomenko told opposition supporters in Independence Square.
Yushchenko took a symbolic oath of office Tuesday that he called "the first step, but we need to carry on to the end. God forbid anybody doubts that we will win."
The election has led to an increasingly tense tug-of-war between Western nations and Russia, which considers Ukraine part of its sphere of influence and a buffer against eastward-expanding NATO.
Powell challenged Ukrainian leaders "to decide whether they are on the side of democracy or not."
"If the Ukrainian government does not act immediately and responsibly there will be consequences for our relationship, for Ukraine's hopes for a Euro-Atlantic integration and for individuals responsible for perpetrating fraud," Powell said.
He was not explicit. However, the United States often revokes the U.S. visas of officials involved in perpetrating fraudulent elections in foreign countries. Another option would be to refuse Ukrainian entry into Euro-Atlantic organizations such as NATO.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned of "consequences" for the European Union's political and trade relations with Ukraine if its government does not allow a "serious, objective review" of the election. At risk might be around $1.31 billion the bloc has given or committed to Ukraine since 1991 in development and economic aid and possible visa bans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already congratulated Yanukovych on his victory, and the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament denounced the Ukrainian opposition for its "illegal actions."
Lech Walesa, the founder of Poland's Solidarity movement, will travel to Ukraine to act as a mediator in the standoff over the disputed presidential elections there, his son told The Associated Press.
In addition, the Netherlands will send a special envoy, Niek Biegman, to Ukraine as part of its role as holding the rotating European Union presidency.
