A crew defects with their vehicle & that’s a “capture”?
Bozhe moi......
Yeah, well, it's not just to let the treadheads save face, it keeps Kiev in the dark.
Kiev probably lists them as MIA because since Kiev refuses to admit it's a civil war civil war with two organized forces opposing one another, they're never going to go along with exchanging information about prisoners and so on unless that requirement is imposed on them by outsiders. At any rate, being MIA is a good thing from the point of view of those who do change sides.
If the Kiev Coup Kiddies know for sure someone deserted more than likely their families in other parts of Ukraine would be questioned about where their sympathies lie and probably still be suspect no matter how the questioning turned out.