Why not split the difference and do both. Hdd for storage and SSD for services/containers. To help with the power load/performance hit I’d recommend using a usb to sata adapter that has external power. Overall though it sounds like a micro optipl x would be great for you. They’re cheap, more powerful, but still sip power, and usually can fit nvme and 2.5" drives together.
Location info shouldn’t be needed, though. (Even though they should technically be able retrieve location data from any terminal on their own already. It’s all their hardware and network.) They should be able to geoblock traffic from Ukraine/Russia while having a kind of Allow filter for the terminals they know they provided for use by Ukraine.
It’s the same concept as blocking a country’s domains but allowing certain domains of that country through for emails. They just need to setup a “spam” filter.