EU nations backed Kosovo's cause as a UN deadline ended for a negotiated settlement.
Skender Hyseni of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team confirmed that Kosovo would start intense consultations with its international partners.
Several thousand Kosovo Albanian youths demonstrated in the capital Pristina to press their leaders to follow through with promises for statehood.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned of a 'chain reaction' from any independence move, but EU foreign ministers said they were close to reaching a united stance on recognising an independent Kosovo.
The UN set a 10 December deadline for talks between Kosovo and Serbia, which the EU, Russia and the US tried to mediate.
The spokesman for the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team said there was not yet a date for an independence proclamation.
Kosovo has been run by the UN since 1999, when NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas and their civilian supporters.
