> if we want to take nuclear options off the table because Russia values infrastructure

Putin doesn't care about infrastructure in Kyiv. He wants the natural gas and resources in the east. A nuked rump Ukraine isn't a threat to his power.

> why would this pressure work for nuclear weapons and not this new military tech?

Because the normalisation of nuclear weapons has global consequences in a way conventional warfare does not. The most problematic aspects of Trump's Iran war for India and China are that it raises oil prices.