The measure gathered 186 out of the required 226 votes in the Verkhovna Rada parliament with support from the three main opposition parties that sought Azarov's resignation over Ukraine's refusal to sign a historic EU trade and political pact.
The opposition's vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov channelled the protesters' anger over Ukraine abandoning the historic pact with the European Union.
The EU had set the release of Yanukovych's top rival Yulia Tymoshenko -- who in 2011 was sentenced to seven years on abuse-of-power charges -- as a key condition for signing the deal with Ukraine.
Opposition leaders including former heavyweight world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko introduced the motion, saying that the government had betrayed the Ukrainian people by scrapping plans to sign the Association Agreement with the EU under pressure from Russia.
Ukraine was expected to sign the EU agreement at a summit last week after years of preparations, but Yanukovych backed out at the last minute, citing pressure from Moscow.
Yanukovych, in his Monday television interview, said he was in favour of closer ties to Europe, but that the planned deal was problematic and prepared in a rush.
"I believe that we should not cave in. We have to defend our own interests," he said.
Yunukovych was scheduled to leave Ukraine on Tuesday on a three-day trip to China.
Meanwhile, his government and Russia sought to undermine the image of the protests being pro-democracy and representative of the Ukrainian public.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants to pull Ukraine into a Russian customs union, said that protests "seem more like a pogrom than a revolution".
"These actions were prepared from outside. We see how well-organised groups of fighters are involved," Putin said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov said the situation bore all the hallmarks of a "coup d'etat".
The United States and France challenged that statement.
"We certainly don't consider peaceful demonstrations coup attempts," said White House spokesman Jay Carney in Washington.
"This is not a coup d'etat. I haven't seen a military intervention and the characteristics of a coup d'etat are not supported," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday told Radio France Internationale in Paris.
