Why Ukrainians are protesting Zelenskyy

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

President Vlodomyr Zelenskky appears to have backtracked on an anti-corruption law he approved earlier this week after protesters accused him of stripping anti-corruption agencies of their independence. The Washington Post's Siobhan O'Grady tells us more. Then, Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration. In return for a $200 million payment and other changes Columbia agreed to make, the government will restore $400 million in research funding it canceled in March. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Francie Diep joins us to explain what the deal means for colleges and universities across the country. And, music therapy can benefit patients with stress, anxiety and Alzheimer's disease. Nicole Altimier, a music therapist with Cincinnati Children's Hospital, joins us to discuss how music therapy works.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.1	Most people would not say Zelensky is authoritarian or that he's an autocrat whatsoever,
0:26.4	but there is a sense that certainly that his office holds way more power now than they did at the beginning of the war,
0:32.1	and that if they are doing that, they need to still listen to the people.
0:37.8	Anti-corruption protests in the streets of Ukraine.
0:50.6	It's Thursday, July 24th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBWR.
0:56.1	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:00.2	Today on the show, Columbia University's deal with the Trump administration means the government will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding, but also that the school will make some
1:12.3	changes the Trump administration was hoping for.
1:15.0	We expect that other universities are looking closely and that the government is taking this
1:21.6	as a playbook for other colleges.
1:25.4	Also, music can be therapeutic. True enough for anyone who's had a moment of
1:31.2	catharsis listening to their favorite song or band. But some music therapy is even
1:36.9	clinically proven to help people with diseases like Alzheimer's. We'll get to that conversation in about 15 minutes. We'll get to that conversation in about 15 minutes. But first, Ukrainians took to the
1:50.8	streets to protest President Vladimir Zelensky, a rare sight in a country that has appeared
1:56.0	united against Russia's full-scale invasion for more than three years.
2:05.5	Zelensky signed a bill earlier this week, giving him more power over the country's anti-corruption agencies. Since the protests began, he has said he will restore those
2:10.6	agencies' independence. But people are still upset. Here's what Alina Bulacca, a 39-year-old
2:16.9	IT specialist, told NPR's team in Kyiv.
2:19.7	This protest is not against President Zelensky personal. Yes, we are protecting our freedom,
	...

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