IMO both countries are of vital importance to the USA as bases for Nukes primed and aimed at Russian Nuclear facilities because closeness to targets gives the USA a first strike advantage. And in Great Powers' Geopolitics, a closeness to targets (first strike advantage) is everything.
There are variables of course apart from the land based positioning of Nukes close to targets such as: -speed of delivery (eg Russia's 7 China's Hypersonic delivery systems) -Ocean bourn launch platforms (ships and Subs) (Nuke Subs have both first & second strike abilities ..hence our AUKUS interest) -Space based Nukes
From WW2 until the mid 50s the US had first strike advantage over USSR & China but since then that advantage has been questionable...hence the protracted Cold War.
So in summary, from a Nuclear War perspective, the closeness of the Nukes to targets is a distinct first strike advantage and to that end, it is in the interest of the USA to have its Nukes positioned in the Ukraine and Georgia and that is possible by having both the Ukraine and Georgia as NATO members ..
Si, IMO, there are many moving parts to this war from a Geopolitical perspective.
PS: To test this theory, just imagine Russia or China basing Nukes in say Mexico or even Central America ?
