Tatiana Pyanova was detained early this morning in Kharkiv city with a knife in one hand and a plastic bag containing the severed head of her teenage daughter Kristina in the other.

Reports say she threatened police with a knife.

The body of her daughter had 20 stab wounds in the macabre lockdown killing.

Appearing confused and denying her identity, she told journalists: “I do not want to communicate, leave me alone.”

Her brother Anton, 40, from Podvirki village, had called police to report that he had found the beheaded body of his niece in a house they shared.

The uncle said Pyanova had a job as a cleaner and while the family was “poor”, the girl was not socially deprived.

The family seemed “happy” and she was a “loving mother”, said locals.

Tatiana Pyanova, 38, a cleaner from Ukraine, “would move a mountain” for her only child, Kristina, 13, said a close friend.

There were no strange noises last night when Kristina is believed to have been killed. The woman was detained by police, and a court later remanded her in custody pending a murder investigation.

A law enforcement statement said: “When they arrived at the scene, police found a citizen in an inadequate condition.

“In one hand she held a knife, in the other a package containing a severed female head. The woman refused to explain anything to police officers.”

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to anyone on the outside, nothing to indicate what was about to happen. But who could ever imagine a mother could do something so horrific to their child.

This is a clear sign of some type of mental illness, or at least a mental break. I’d like to learn a bit more about this women’s life before this quarantine. This lock down has had a negative affect on a lot of people especially with pre existing mental conditions. A lot of us go about our days dealing with anxiety and can make it while others need medication to help calm them. Either way being stuck at home, nothing to do but sit and think and be worried (lots are jobless) gets to anyone. Not trying to say this woman is justified in any way. There is no mental illness known or unknown that makes this ok. Please pay attention to your loved ones in this hard time. I will update this if I hear any more information on this investigation.