It claims more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory.

Officials said the suspects are the first to be charged in the matter.

Prosecution documents allege 48 children were forcibly displaced from a children's home in Kherson in September and October and taken to Moscow and occupied Crimea.

Some are said to have been as young as one.

Russia denies violating children's rights and says its forces were rescuing them from conflict zones.

The Ukrainian charges follow a wider investigation by the International Criminal Court.

In March, it issued arrest warrants for President Putin and Russia's children's rights commissioner over the claims.

Read more:
How 15 orphans escaped Russia and the thousands left behind