WAR IN UKRAINE: President Donald Trump today issued a rare broadside against Russian President Vladimir Putin as he continued to try to drive both Russia and Ukraine toward ending the war.

To tell the Truth: “Vladimir, STOP!” Trump posted on Truth Social this morning in the wake of a deadly assault on Kyiv that left at least 12 people dead in Ukraine’s capital, far from the front lines. Trump said he was “not happy” with the “very bad timing” of the Russian strikes. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” It was still a much shorter post than his castigation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday, POLITICO’s Eli Stokols and Robbie Gramer note.

Hope springs eternal: At the White House this afternoon, Trump told reporters that he thought Putin would heed his command to stop attacking. And he remained optimistic about the prospects for striking a peace deal — which is still elusive nearly 100 days into his presidency, despite Trump’s pledge to end it on Day One. “We are thinking that, very strongly, that they both want peace,” Trump said, “but they have to get to the table.”

The big question: Will Trump walk away if he deems Russia and Ukraine unserious about a ceasefire? His administration has been threatening to do so for days. Trump said today that “I have my own deadline, and we want it to be fast,” without specifying what it is. But Russia’s relentless invasion of Ukraine, and Ukraine’s unwillingness to accept a U.S. proposal that’s pretty favorable to Moscow, make a quick agreement look difficult. As NYT’s Andrew Kramer and Maria Varenikova report, Zelenskyy’s refusal to cede Crimea to Russia is not just his position, but a widely held red line across the country.

Afternoon watch: POLITICO White House bureau chief Dasha Burns and Playbook’s own Jack Blanchard sat down to talk about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine in the latest “Playbook Daily Briefing.” Check it out here

IMMIGRATION FILES: The Trump administration has now been ordered to return a second man improperly deported to El Salvador — this time by a Trump-appointed federal judge, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. Stephanie Gallagher found that authorities expelled a 20-year-old Venezuelan named Cristian despite a settlement agreement protecting people who arrived as unaccompanied minors with pending asylum claims, as his was. Gallagher cited the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in her ruling. ABC’s Katherine Faulders, James Hill and Laura Romero scooped the news late last night.

Another one: One of the Venezuelans whom the Supreme Court blocked from being deported under the Alien Enemies Act had been moved from Pennsylvania to Texas for possible deportation despite a federal judge’s order barring that, Reuters’ Luc Cohen scooped.

Heads up: A federal judge today barred the Trump administration from freezing federal funding to San Francisco and several other sanctuary cities/counties, per Reuters.

The refugees Trump wants: The U.S. has started to approve dozens of white South Africans to receive refugee status after early, positive rounds of interviews, Reuters’ Tim Cocks, Nellie Peyton, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke report. Trump has sought to welcome Afrikaners who say they’ve lost their land or suffered anti-white discrimination, even while ending the refugee system for people worldwide fleeing war.

APPOINTMENT READING: Trump said he’ll have an interview today with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker in the wake of Signalgate. “I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful,’” the president said.

Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at [email protected].

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1. TRADING PLACES: China today refuted Trump’s claims that the U.S. is engaged in trade talks with Beijing, saying there are no such negotiations ongoing, per the NYT. That stalled some market progress this morning, but stocks are now jumping higher as of early afternoon. Indeed, within China, “experts who advise the government … believe Beijing has the upper hand and is in no rush to make a deal with Trump,” CNN’s Juliana Liu and Nectar Gan report. And Chinese leaders are trying to steel their populace to accept some economic hardship in a long-term crack-up with the U.S., WaPo’s Christian Shepherd and Vic Chiang report.

But but but: Trump said at the White House that “we’ve been meeting with China” as recently as this morning.

The fallout: The U.S. is under pressure after China choked off rare earth mineral exports, with top officials struggling to find workarounds for materials critical to consumer and military products, WaPo’s Evan Halper and Jeff Stein report. High-level efforts are underway across multiple agencies, but “the U.S. government does not have many viable alternatives for industry leaders now panicked that their supplies will dry up within months.”

Let’s make a deal: The White House has told Wall Street leaders they’re getting close to striking the broad framework of an agreement with India, Fox Business’ Charles Gasparino reports. On the flip side, Japan doesn’t want its deal with the U.S. to include being part of any sort of anti-China bloc, Bloomberg’s Alastair Gale, Haze Fan, Yoshiaki Nohara and Sakura Murakami report.

2. SCOTUS WATCH: Trump is going to the Supreme Court over his transgender military ban. The Justice Department asked the justices to lift a lower court order barring enforcement of the policy for now while litigation continues, saying the judge overstepped his authority, per Reuters. In Trump’s first term, the Supreme Court allowed a narrower transgender ban to stand. Nonetheless, under court order, the Pentagon is temporarily restarting gender transition-related medical care for service members while it appeals, POLITICO’s Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Kyle Cheney scooped. That’s a setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-transgender efforts.

More Hegseth reading: An analysis from WaPo’s Evan Hill finds several instances when defense contractors lost their security clearances for infractions that were similar to or less serious than Hegseth’s actions on Signal. And CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky and Jake Tapper have the story of how Col. Ricky Buria rose quickly to become a trusted Hegseth adviser.

More transgender student reading: “Trump-Aligned Nonprofits Are Turning Local Fights Over Transgender Students Into Federal Investigations,” by NOTUS’ Violet Jira

3. COMING TODAY: “Trump to target ActBlue in presidential memorandum,” by POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Calder McHugh: “Trump plans to sign a presidential memorandum on Thursday that he will cast as cracking down on foreign contributions in American elections … Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is expected to be involved … though further details about the mechanism she will use were not immediately available. The order is expected to specifically target ActBlue, which Republicans have long claimed could be exploited by foreign actors. … [Democrats are] casting it as an unwarranted attack on their fundraising efforts.”

4. TRAIL MIX: In a swing Ohio seat, Republican Alea Nadeem is launching a campaign to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller scooped. Nadeem is an Air Force veteran who plans to focus on the economy and generational change. … Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton quickly became the first prominent Democrat to jump into the race for Sen. Dick Durbin’s newly open seat, per the Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson. … Former Rep. David Jolly has switched to the Democratic Party and is laying the groundwork for a potential Florida gubernatorial bid, POLITICO’s Kimberly Leonard and Gary Fineout report.

In the wilderness: The DNC unveiled a plan to shore up state party infrastructure, spending more than $1 million a month across all 50 states, NYT’s Nick Corasaniti and Shane Goldmacher report. The party is especially focused on red states, where its monthly contributions will rise 50 percent to try to improve Democratic competitiveness in the long run. … The group Contest Every Race announced it’ll spend $12 million in rural areas to bolster Democrats, organize and find more candidates in red areas, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard scooped.

5. IRAN LATEST: “US names Michael Anton to lead technical talks with Iran,” by POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz: “Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, is leading a team of about a dozen, largely career officials from across the government to hash out the details of an agreement that would place significant constraints on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. … He has not yet staked out a public stance on the Iran file.”

6. MONUMENTAL NEWS: “Trump officials consider shrinking 6 national monuments in the West,” by WaPo’s Jake Spring and Dino Grandoni: “Trump officials are analyzing whether to remove federal protections for national monuments spanning millions of acres … in order to spur energy development on public lands. … The list … includes Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, Ironwood Forest, Chuckwalla, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.”

7. IN THE DOGE HOUSE: Nearly 100 days in, Reuters’ Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Nathan Layne have a tough account of the Department of Government Efficiency unleashing more chaos than efficiency. The Social Security Administration sent top officials from headquarters to regional offices to replace fired workers, but their lack of know-how caused longer lines; bad internet at the IRS has crashed computers during tax season; and much more. Despite the hundreds of thousands of civil servants who have left, one expert at the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute estimates DOGE will ultimately not save any money on net.

The fallout continues: The Justice Department axed money for hundreds of programs supporting victims of crime on DOGE’s recommendation, NBC’s Ken Dilanian and Laura Strickler report. But Bondi undid some of the cuts. … Multiple Alzheimer’s research studies face an uncertain future amid an NIH funding freeze, CNN’s Jacqueline Howard reports.

8. KNOWING MICHAEL GRIMES: “The Morgan Stanley Star Now Leading Trump’s Invest-in-America Push,” by WSJ’s Corrie Driebusch: “Grimes, who spent three decades at Morgan Stanley as Silicon Valley’s top IPO rainmaker, is helming President Trump’s U.S. Investment Accelerator, an office to encourage domestic and foreign companies to invest money in the U.S. … The role is a new one and its success will hinge on whether companies want the government’s help. Grimes will have a unique pitch for companies to come to him: An inside line to cut through red tape, help with permits and construction sites and work with state officials to get projects moving faster.”

9. ED MARTIN IN THE SPOTLIGHT: ProPublica’s Jeremy Kohler and Andy Kroll dive deep on the acting U.S. attorney for D.C., whose history includes ghostwriting online attacks against a judge in a case involving Martin in 2016. They also report that “when one of Martin’s top deputies refused to open a criminal investigation into clean-energy grants issued by the Biden administration, Martin demanded the deputy’s resignation.” (Martin didn’t respond for comment.) That dovetails with a scoop last night from POLITICO’s Alex Guillén that EPA lawyers warned of “significant legal vulnerabilities” if Administrator Lee Zeldin tried to block $20 billion in climate grants, which he did.

More from Martin: As he seeks Senate confirmation, Martin apologized for having praised Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, claiming he didn’t know about the Nazi sympathizer’s views, the Forward’s Jacob Kornbluh reports. (POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney says that claim doesn’t pass the smell test.)

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Jim McGovern’s daughter, Molly, died unexpectedly after a rare cancer diagnosis.

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Moody’s downgrades the District’s credit rating,” by the Washington Business Journal’s Drew Hansen

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Doug Wilson, the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Pentagon official and a veteran of eight presidential campaigns, is out with a new podcast called “BoomerLennials” with actor Josh Brener, who played Wilson in the Jason Reitman-directed Gary Hart movie “The Front Runner.” The pair will discuss current issues at the intersection of Hollywood and politics through the lens of the generational divide, POLITICO’s Adam Wren writes in.

OUT AND ABOUT — The Washington Association of Black Journalists and the Global Situation Room held “A Toast to Press Freedom” last night at the Recording Industry Association of America. SPOTTED: Darlene Superville, Marcus Robinson, Eugene Daniels, Eva McKend, Geoff Bennett, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Myles Miller, Thanos Dimadis, Elizabeth Houston, Cesca Antonelli, Rafael Lorente, Michele Ballantyne, Edith Delaney, Taurean Small, Skylar Woodhouse, Brianna Tucker, Gerren Keith Gaynor, Brittany Gibson, Arit John, Krissah Thompson, Lisa Matthews, Janiyah Thomas, Anthony Shop, Beatrice Peterson, Madeleine Rivera, Aimee Cho, Matthew Torres, Elina Shirazi, Brett Bruen and Michael “Harry-O” Harris.

— SPOTTED at a Bloomberg New Economy dinner last night at Modena: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Jing Qian, Raj Subramaniam, Ravi Menon, Isabelle Mateos y Lago, Erik Schatzker, Justin Finnegan, Gina Raimondo, Jan Jambon, Karen Saltser, Anu Bradford, Jenny Johnson, Leigh Gilmore, Christine Lagarde, Stefan Simon and Jörg Kukies.

— Symone Sanders Townsend, Helen and Joe Milby, Keenan Austin Reed, Tiffany Moore and Alethia Jackson hosted the third annual Preface gathering at the Milbys’ home last night to kick off White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend and celebrate Sanders Townsend’s new role on MSNBC. SPOTTED: Eugene Daniels, Dasha Burns, Jeff Mason, Kyle Griffin, Anna Palmer, Shawn Townsend, Nicole Mortier, Olivia Curry, Melika Carroll, Yebbie Watkins, Rob Hall, Moyer McCoy, Donnie Fowler, John McCarthy, Amirah Salaam, Stacy Rich, Joyce Brayboy and Jennifer Butler.

MEDIA MOVES — WaPo is splitting its national department in two, with Lori Montgomery leading politics and government and Jennifer Amur leading national. Zach Goldfarb will lead a new futures department covering “major forces transforming the 21st century.”

TRANSITIONS — Michael Bastasch will be a senior adviser for comms at the EPA. He currently is editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation. … Brian Beall has returned to Cruise Lines International Association as VP of government affairs. He previously was director of the national travel and tourism office in the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. …

… Stephanie Genco is now SVP for comms at the American Council on Renewable Energy. She previously was director of comms at Fortescue, and is a Forbes Tate Partners and NRCC alum. … Christian Rehder is now comms director for Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). He most recently was a public affairs manager at Plus Communications, and is an Eric Schmitt alum.

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