Boris Johnson: Poland is probably our closest European NATO ally

During a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at 10 Downing Street in London, Johnson said: "This is a moment where we can reaffirm our commitment to the relationship, but also to standing shoulder to shoulder with Poland against those who would try to provoke a migrant crisis, for instance, on Polish borders."

"Even more important, I think this is a chance for us to reaffirm our commitment to you as - I think - probably our closest European NATO ally, in our thinking and our commitment to our long-term security and defence, which is something we've - not to say anything of our economic relationship, which are great as well," Johnson said.

"Thank you very much, Boris, for receiving me at such a short notice. I know how busy you are, but things are now getting very much crazy around us, and we have to really focus on key priorities," Morawiecki said.

"I'm so happy that for the United Kingdom and for your great nation and for Poles we have almost the same priorities and we are on the same hymn sheet. The migrants, and the influx of migrants is just showing that this is an issue for all of us really and we cannot deal with this separately," Polish prime minister added.

Morawiecki also said that "we are on the verge of some new global order because of some not-so-good guys, let's put it like this, around us, around the democratic and transatlantic community and we have to stay together in front of these challenges".

Thousands of migrants are stuck on the border between Poland and Belarus, the European Union's eastern frontier, in what the EU says is a crisis Minsk engineered by distributing Belarusian visas in the Middle East, flying them in and pushing them across the border.

Poland and other EU nations say the crisis is part of a "hybrid war" Minsk is waging in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed in response to Lukashenko's crushing of protests against his disputed re-election last year and is designed to destabilize the bloc.

The EU has agreed on new sanctions in response to the border crisis, which diplomats in Brussels say should be approved and adopted in early December.

Morawiecki also expressed sorrow at the deaths of 27 migrants on Wednesday (November 24) when they tried to cross the narrow English Channel between the UK and France, the worst tragedy on record in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel has surged to 25,776 so far in 2021, up from 8,461 in 2020 and 1,835 in 2019, according to the BBC, citing government data.