Tensions in Ukraine continued to escalate Sunday, as anti-government protestors took to the streets in Kiev, the capital city, and toppled a prominent statue of Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary who was the first head of the Soviet Union.

The scene, which was captured on Instagram and other social-media platforms, caps off more than two weeks of demonstrations in which thousands of Ukrainians have publicly protested President Viktor F. Yanukovich's Nov. 21 decision not to sign a deal with the European Union, which would have established broad political and free-trade agreements.

Members of the European Union alleged that Russia had pressured Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union, to back out of the deal. Ukrainians are pressuring the president to resign, and are calling for the country to pursue closer ties with the European Union, which they believe will be better for its long-term prosperity, rather than cave into Russia's demands.

Protestors' frustrations were incited this weekend by reports that Ukraine was close to a deal for a customs union with Russia. In a symbolic move, protestors responded Sunday by knocking over and subsequently beheading the Lenin monument.